Feathered Star #7; Smocking Easter Dresses

I have never heard of the  block that I used as the center of the Feathered Star. Squire Smith’s Choice.   Perhaps it goes by another name?  There are 28 pieces in the block and I used the dreaded paper piecing method to construct it.  Dreaded because I really dislike having to pick paper out of block after I have finished it.

Here is a close up of the block.  I must have been holding my camera crooked because it looks wonky close up but it is really a nice straight block.

I didn’t get a shot of the block with the others but will try and do that next time when I have completed two rows of blocks.

Currently, I am trying to finish smocking an Easter dress for GD#1.  The dress for GD #2 is smocked and needs the finishing touches before I start constructing.  I would like to get them finished in the next couple of weeks.  As you can see, I have a way to go yet.

Hope your day includes a little time for stitching

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Charlsey

 

 

Feathered Star #6

Tags

circles

Today’s featured feathered star center is named “Hour Glass”, a 25 piece 6″ block.

Here is a close up of the block

And a picture with the other completed stars.

Since the announcement of Circles and the new pattern for Pies and Tarts-The Inklingo Way, many ideas are starting to take shape for a future project.  I had better get busy if I am going to meet my goal of the halfway point on this quilt by the end of the weekend.

Stitch Away!

Charlsey

Feathered Star #5 and Inklingo Circles

Tags

applique, Perfect Circles, quilts

Early morning with the sewing machine and feathered star block #5 is finished. (2:30 am to 4:30 am) That’s another story.   The center block is called TicTac Toe.  It is four  3″ inch  patches, two of which are Basic Nine Patch and two are the Shoo Fly Block.  There are 44 pieces in the 6″ center block.

Here is a close up of TicTacToe

Now a picture with the rest of the blocks.  It is growing!  Pardon Renegade’s head in the picture.  He is a typical Labrador Retriever.  He has to be in the middle of everything I do. (But I love him!)

My plan is to have the second row completed by the weekend which would mean I will be at the half way point for the blocks.

When Inklingo came out with the Circle Collection yesterday, I pulled out a 2004 Jan Patek Feathered Star that I had completed except for the borders.  The border is applique and I got so tired of doing leaves that I shelved the project.  I pulled it out and the berries were still in the baggie.  I decided to print the berries with Inklingo Circle collection since the freezer paper had fallen off the old berries and I didn’t yet have the sewing and seam lines marked.   Lucky for me, when I shelve a project, all the fabric gets shelved with it.  The berries went on pretty quickly but the few remaining leaves took a little longer.  I must say that printing Circles with Inklingo is so much easier and more accurate than making or buying  a template and tracing them.

Renegade again.  I asked his opinion on what I should do about the berries.  Of course his ears perked up with “berries” because Mr. NCC puts them in his dog dish in the mornings as part of his breakfast.

While I was at it, I printed off a sheet of red berries for a new Album applique quilt that I am starting.  These are pretty light but with the Perfect Circles, I didn’t need real dark lines (this not a good picture either).  The new Album quilt doesn’t have a ton of flowers, berries,  and leaves so I decided I would try my hand at applique again.

Here is a picture of the quilt.  Do you remember this one?  Pretty old huh?

For now, I am going to do a top and bottom applique border.  I can’t bring myself to do 4 borders.  I guess I now have a take along project since I am doing the feathered star by machine.  If and when I get the borders on this one, I will only have 3 UFO’s left.  One is on the quilt frame and the quilt frame is stored; and two quilts that need binding.  Making head way!

Charlsey

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Feathered Star Block #4/ Inklingo Announces new Collection of Circles

Block # 4 of  Feathered Star features the Friendship Star in the center.  This completes the first row of the quilt (less the sashing and variable stars).  The 4 corners of the quilt will all have a different star in the center.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is what the row looks like to date.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I stacked them two per row so you can get a better look at them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inklingo has just announced a new collection release that is all Circles.  15 sizes  of circles which will be great for Applique.  I have started a new Applique BOM so this is perfect timing for me.  I have an applique quilt that I started years ago that needed berries added to it.  I am going to pull it out tonight and try the new collection of circles.  Check back and I will let you know how it worked for me.

Happy Stitching

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Charlsey

Inklingo Feathered Star Block #3

Tags

applique, BOM, Feathered Star, Inklingo, smocking

The latest feathered star block (#3) is completed.

For reference, the name and piece count of the center blocks are:

1) Light and Dark star – 24 pieces

2) No Name  – 18 pieces

3) Rolling Stone – 29 pieces

After hand piecing 1, hybrid piecing 1, and machine piecing 1, I have decided that I am going to machine piece the remaining blocks.  Many factors have gone into this decision but the main one is that Inklingo makes it so easy to machine piece and everything goes together so systematically.  I can say that the only downfall to machine piecing is not having a portable project but as you will learn later, I think I have that base covered.

These projects are in the making:

Christmas BOM

Finish smocking and constructing 2 Easter dresses (better get on this one)

Feathered Star (3 of 16 blocks finished) need to cut sashing strip sets and make 24  3-3/4″ variable stars, construct 13 more feathered star blocks

Applique Album quilt – Can do as BOM

Baby quilt – not started or designed (baby due in July)

Wedding quilt – not started but designed and fabric purchased (wedding in 2012)

Several quilts need binding (me procrastinator)

Window treatment for my sewing room (partially designed not  started because I keep changing my mind)

I think this is the reason I don’t have more than one large project going at a time.  I tend to get overwhelmed  when I have too many unfinished projects.  It is a little better for me if I don’t have deadlines on each project but sometimes deadlines help me finish. Do you know what I mean?

Obviously, I better quit talking and get to stitching.

Hope you day has time for a little needle and thread.

Charlsey

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Christmas BOM 1st month Completed

Tags

applique, BOM, Christmas, embroidery, silk, wool

Well everyone needs a challenge every once in a while.  Mine happens to be primitive applique and embroidery.  As long as the embroidery doesn’t involve any more than a satin stitch, back stitch, french knots and lazy daisy, I think I am okay.  As I mentioned earlier, the handwork is done with silk thread on silk.  I now understand why our ancestors loved doing crazy quilts with silk, velvet, and other expensive fabric scraps.

Here is block number two of the first month.  There is no applique or embroidery on the alternating blocks.  This is gold colored silk and the sashing between the blocks is a charcoal colored silk.  It goes so well with the silver grey in the fabric

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a picture of the two blocks from Month 1 joined together.  I didn’t get a picture of the back yet but will remember to do that in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just kinda makes me want to bust out into a tune of  Frosty the Snowman.  I will restrain myself since we are finally having some beautiful warm sunshine weather and I don’t want to jinx it.

Happy Stitching

Charlsey

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Christmas Quilt

Tags

applique, BOM, silk, wool

Good morning,

I am squeezing in a Christmas BOM, quilt as you go, for myself along with the list of other quilts I have on my list.  At least when all the blocks are completed with this one, I will have a finished quilt.

The embroidered block is silk and I am using silk thread to do the handwork.  The silk fabric and silk thread together is like cutting hot butter.  It is so smooth and enjoyable to stitch.  The surrounding fabric is a Christmas line by Ann Gervais and the applique pieces are wool.  Embroidery is not my forte so we will see how this pans out.  Here is a picture of the block before it is squared up.  It will be joined to another block with a gold center and no embroidery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the feathered star, smocking Easter dresses, and grocery store (Ugh!)  But we do have to eat or so Mr. NCC tells me.

Hope you day is filled with stitches!

Charlsey

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Back Home, Feathered Star Report

Tags

Feathered Star, Inklingo, quilts, Seven Sisters, stars

I just returned from a 4 day trip to Toronto with my husband.  It was a whirlwind and very cold but I had a lot of time to stitch.  I met the infamous Cathi over at Quilt Obsession and we stitched for two days in the lobby of the hotel in front of their fireplace.  They graciously kept the fire stoked for us and the coffee and chocolate machine running.

It was a great time of sharing, planning, and stitching.

Here is a shot of my Seven Sister’s quilt meeting Cathi’s X’s and O’s quilt.  Yes, we spread them out on the sofa in the lobby!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first day, Cathi put together her “snake”  of tri’s to go around one of her Farmer’s Delight blocks.  I was working on piecing the feathers for my next feathered star block.  The second day, Cathi put the tri’s around 6 of her Pickled Ladies blocks, and I assembled about   3/4 of a feathered star.

Here is a picture of our second day of stitching.  I didn’t have my camera with me to take the first day shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cathi had a little surprise for me when I got there.  YLI thread, a pincushion she made, a pair of nifty nippers in case the airline confiscated my scissors and a Quilt Block Book.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was going to hand piece the second block of the feathered star quilt.  It went together very nicely.  You just can’t go wrong with Inklingo.  Every piece fits together like a charm.  As far as the comparison between machine and hand piecing, naturally machine is faster.  However, that said, I must admit that because a machine’s feed dogs can cause your bottom layer of fabric to feed differently than the top layer of fabric, I took my time and went more slowly than I normally would when I machine piece using a 1/4″ foot and without Inklingo.  I used an open foot to machine piece so I could see the Inklingo lines easier.   I enjoyed both and can say the Inklingo way making a feathered star is much more accurate and takes less time.  I pieced a feathered star quilt several years ago and it was a very time consuming process, so I speak from experience on this one.  If you are generally a machine piecer and think that Inklingo is mainly for hand piecing, I would recommend you try the feathered star the Inklingo way.  You will be pleased you did.

Here are the first two feathered star blocks.  I am sorry you cannot see the star very well in the first block.  The star points are slivers and the star itself is pretty complex.  The center of the second block is interesting as well and has 18 pieces to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is nothing like a little travel to give you time to stitch.  Which brings up another point.  If I decide to machine piece the feathered star, I better get to work and plan another hand piecing project.  Wouldn’t you say?

 

Charlsey

 

Travel Day/Birthday Cake

This is one of the few posts that I will make without pictures.  I am traveling and although I have my camera, I didn’t bring my card reader to upload pictures of what I am working on.  I decided that the feathered star had too many pieces to spread out on the airline tray table, so I started a new project.  I know, I said one project at a time, but I needed a small travel project.  I can’t wait to show it to you.  It is a Christmas BOM using a Lynette Anderson pattern.  I am doing the embroidered blocks on silk using silk floss.  I have never stitched with silk thread.  It is like stitching through soft butter.  This is a quilt as you go project as well, so by the end of the year it will be finished!  I have never tried a quilt as you go.

I did bring my feathered star with me and will start hand piecing the first block tomorrow.  I will be stitching with an infamous Inklingoist.  Tune in!

I did download a picture before I left of the birthday cake my daughter made for my grandson’s birthday last week.  I showed you the coon skinned cake she made last year.  He is an awesome little baseball player so that was the theme this year.  I make round cakes and square cakes.  That’s it!  I admire her cake decorating talent.  Here is the baseball field cake.  It tasted good too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Until tomorrow……..

Charlsey

First Feathered Star Block/Half Square Triangles

It looks as though I could use 15 more days of snow/ice to make headway on my feathered star quilt.  I put together block 1 of 16 today.  It actually went together very nicely.  The instructions for assembly in the Inklingo collection are so thorough and with the pictures it is very easy to understand and follow.

The quilt will be very different with brown and blue centers surrounded by the cream and navy feathers.  The sashing and sawtooth stars will pull it all together at the end. (I hope)

Since I machined pieced this block, tomorrow I will try and hand piece the next one so I can tell you if I have a preference.  It may take me a little longer to hand piece the block, so keep checking back in periodically.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a close up of the center block

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Half Square Triangles (HST)

Today I was prepping some HST for handpiecing the feathered star.  The feathers I had done previously were stitched corner to corner and for hand piecing I needed them stitched cross hair to cross hair.  I decided to use the hybrid method and stitch them on my machine.  This is what it looked like.  I really like the foot I was using because it is clear and it has hash marks on the sides.  That helped me line up a corresponding crosshair with where the needle was about to go down.  Everything with Inklingo  is perfectly marked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just dragged my thread to the next starting point each time.  A little wasteful on the thread but it worked great.  This is what the piece looked like after stitching and dragging.  I clipped the long loose threads and then pressed the entire piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next I started cutting the large fabric piece in strips along the cutting line.  To save time I cut out the notches and clipped off the dog ears.  This gives a perfect rounded edge that makes piecing neater  and more accurate later on.  (I do the same thing from this point on when I prepare HST for machine piecing).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was cutting each HST apart  and then pressing them.  I found that if I cut them in pairs they are easier to handle and press.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They look like butterflies, getting ready to take flight!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cut them apart and you have two HSTs.  I love these scissors.  I use them when I do heirloom sewing because the blade is flat which helps me to  cut  lace away from the fabric.  I found that using them when I cut apart my Inklingo shapes, I can see the cutting line better.  I gave up on stacking and wacking my shapes apart because the edge of my ruler is so chewed up from me cutting it with the rotary cutter, the shapes came out uneven.  I desperately need a new ruler!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn’t have one wonky HST!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Stitching!

Charlsey