Arkansas Crossroads Quilt - A Favorite

Choose your battles means to be selective of the problems and issues you get involved in.  Instead of fighting every problem, save your time for the things that matter - letting go of the rest. This is my motto for quilting.  I quilt for fun in my garage, not for profit or competition - which means I can choose my battle of what is important to me. 

Over the years what matters to me is a consistent size of a square or block ... even if it distorts the perfection of the pattern.  While not all quilt patterns allow for this type of manipulation, those that do are my favorites.  I want the overall look to be good and ease of assembly for overall enjoyment of my hobby. 

The block for this quilt is supposed to be 8.5" x 8.5" square.  I find it frustrating to have uneven edges, to tug and maybe have wavy rows when I assemble.  I like starched flat and square units to sew together. (I don't know if this wonkiness is the result of bad sewing or if I am just neurotic!) For this Arkansas Crossroads quilt pattern I trim everything to 8" x 8".  

I trim the edge units to 8" wide and also square up some inside bits for good measure. (pix below)

Now, all this trimming will alter the final design.  As you can see from the 'dreaded' red arrows below - my little triangle cap units do NOT extend to the edges of the squares below them. 

And I have no idea what I did a few years ago when I made some of these snowballed units - but they don't line up either. 

However ... this quilt is absolutely beautiful in it's entirety. 

A fun pattern that has only 2 blocks and can be made with charm packs or scraps if desired.

A soft shade of lilac minky and matching binding from Hawthorne Supply Co.  makes it 'meditation' ready for my friend's daughter.  

For more details, diagrams and links to other sources on how to make this quilt - my post from 2016 HERE is helpful. Remember though, I trim down everything which distorts perfection, and is NOT the correct/proper way according to official patterns. 

Artwork: xunantunich

Take my blog posts not as ultimate guidance but one point of view on how to make something.  Choose which battle you will fight when you quilt.  Move on from the aspects that tweak you - and enjoy the rest. 

Materials:

Good Fortune by Kate Spain

White Kona

Warm & White batting

Lilac minky and Lilac Candy Stripe from Hawthorne Supply Co.

Aurifil 50wt. thread #2024 (white) #2560 (lilac)

Size: 54" x 69"

November 2020

Snowballing a Corner

Snowballing is a technique of adding a triangle of fabric to the corner of a square.  You don't actually use a triangle shaped piece of fabric - but that is the illusion that occurs once you are finished. A smaller square is sewn onto a corner, trimmed and voilà - a snowballed corner.

At the end of this post are 4 really good links to various blogs and the different techniques one can use to make this block - as well as a tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Co. 

  I have done all of these methods but tried something new this time -  the Creative Grids Folded Corner Clipper Tool. The video (HERE) from Shabby Fabrics is all about this tool and helpful to watch.

I am making another Arkansas Crossroads quilt and it has a lot of "X" squares.  Each background fabric square (white) is 4.5" x 4.5" - and all colored fabric squares for snowballing are 2.5" x 2.5".  

Put the Corner Clipper Tool on a 2.5" x 2.5" square as shown above and trim off the right corner. 

Put the Corner Clipper Tool on the 4.5" x 4.5" square as shown above and trim off the right corner.  Notice that the position of the ruler marking at the 2.5" line is flush with the right side of the square.  

Turn the fabric around and do the same thing for the opposite corner of the 4.5" square.

Select two smaller trimmed units and sew them on the background fabric (white) on each corner using a scant 1/4" seam.

Here is the first piece that makes the "X" block.  You will need 4 of these to make the complete block.

Notice the not so perfect corners - just trim those so everything is even on the sides. 

Sew the top squares together and then the bottom two squares.  Join those to make an "X" block that is 8.5" x 8.5".  

Whether you make just a quilt with "X" squares or combine them with a 16 patch to make a Crossroads quilt - this little ruler is fun for 'clipping' corners.  You don't have to make any pen/pencil lines on small pieces of fabric and there is an opportunity to make multiple sized 'snowballs' for future projects. 

As always there is a very good tutorial with Jenny from Missouri Star Quilt Co. that shows how to assemble and make this quilt - it's a fun one with pre-cuts or scraps.  Video is HERE. 

Here are a few links that explain alternative snowball techniques.  

The Cloth Parcel - drawing a diagonal line

Sharon Keightley Quilts - using tape to guide fabric

Cluck Cluck Sew - tape method

Corner Pop by Deb Tucker - oversized corners and trim 

Materials:
Creative Grids Corner Clipper Tool
Good Fortune by Kate Spain

November 2020

Trying Something New ...

8 years ago I had no idea how to make quilt.  I am a sloppy note taker but a speedy typist.  I figured a blog was the fastest and neatest way to keep track of what I was doing.   Ye Olde Sweatshop has changed over time into a more tutorial style format which is really fun.  I get emails. questions and receive pictures of quilts from readers which makes this whole shared experience the best.

To evolve with this newer direction, I will post pictures & explanations about the blocks I am working on before the finished quilt.  This will provide shorter blog posts that are not over packed with information.  I am so glad my poor memory resulted in a way to share & help ... best of all,  it's awesome to see what you guys are up to as well.  Ruth  

Old Mill Path Quilt - Halloween Style

A bright and happy quilt made just in time for Halloween and best of all, it uses just one layer cake for the main design.  

The fabric:  Ghouls & Goodies by Stacy Iest Hsu for Moda.  One layer cake with some scrap black fabric for the border.  

The Pattern:  Old Mill Path by Missouri Star Quilt Co.  Their video shows in detail how to sew and assemble this pattern using their Drunkards Path ruler (small size).  Link to the video is HERE. 

This pattern is perfect for novelty designs, and I have made it before using another of Stacy's fabric lines called Safari Life.  

The blog post HERE explains how I made this block with lots of pictures if you are interested in more step by step details.  There is one difference between these two quilts.  The original pattern calls for the blocks to be made with two colors ...  the center 'star' and similar colored circles surrounding it (picture on the right).  In this Halloween quilt I mixed up all the circle pieces to balance all the colors (picture on the left).  

I try my best with circles and often end up seams not lining up as shown in the picture above. The reason why this can happen is two-fold.  Sewing curves is challenging and it's easy to stretch the fabric since everything is on the bias.  

But, it can also be because after you FOLD one 10" fabric square and cut through four layers of fabric to get your shapes ... the rotary cutter can shift a little on the curve.   This picture shows how uneven some of my cuts were.   I am merely mentioning this because it helps explain why, even if you think your sewing is pretty accurate on the curved parts - things can be a little off.  But bottom line, this is not something to stress or worry about.  NO ONE WILL NOTICE. 

I always trim my blocks and the previous post HERE shows how I line up the ruler to get this 8.5" x 8.5" square.  

Some soft minky from Hawthorne Supply Co.  in Aubergine ( purple eggplant) and some of their in-house printed Candy Stripe for the binding,  also in Aubergine, completes the picture. 

 Royal purple thread from Connecting Threads in straight lines on either side of the seams, and then on the diagonal in a 3.5 stitch length is simple and easy.  

That's it for this Halloween ... may your day be filled with Ghouls & Goodies! 

Materials:

Ghouls & Goodies by Stacy Iest Hsu for Moda

Missouri Star Quilt Co. Old Mill Path video / Drunkards Path ruler (small)

Hawthorne Supply Co. Minky & Candy Strip in Aubergine 

Warm & White batting

Royal Purple thread 50wt. Connecting Threads

Border: Chillingsworth Deadly Damask in Shadow from Echo Park

Size: 52" x 61"

Date: October 2020

Tilda's Plum Garden Terrazzo Quilt

I have been playing a lot of Nintendo's Animal Crossing on the Switch this summer and my favorite thing to do is breed hybrid flowers.  I realize now that my quilts are total HYBRIDS! I use the pattern as a guide but make the pieces a different way. This is just a personal preference and in no way diminishes the pattern maker - I just do better with certain tools and methods.

Lets begin.  
The pattern I used is Terrazzo by Lee Heinrich of Freshly Pieced.  A beautiful design and she breaks it down with excellent directions and diagrams. The quilt's optical illusion of curves is achieved through V-Blocks, Half Square Triangles and squares in a square.  A very similar quilt pattern to this is Fig Tree & Co.'s Nine Patch Waltz.    

I made the half square triangles in the traditional way but used Deb Tucker's V-Block and Square Squared rulers for the other units.  Her method of making larger sizes and then trimming down works for me every time. 

The fabrics are muted colors of pink, blue, purple and brown from Plum Garden by Tilda.  The blue is Tilda's solid in Lupine, all against a background of Kona white. 

I fussy cut all the ducks for the centers of the larger units - and was extremely lucky to be able to color balance everything.

The border is a combo of leftover fussy cut ducks and scraps cut into 2.5" squares.

This wrinkly blanket has no batting but a layer of not so great white flannel as its middle.  The back fabric is deep blue shot cotton by Kaffe Fassett in Denim.  Quilting was super simple - following the seams in a wavy line stitch to make a 4" grid.  Aurifil 50wt. thread #2311 muslin on the top, and #1248 blue on the bottom.  

While it's flimsy nature and simple quilting won't win any beauty awards - it's a perfect lightweight blanket to wrap up in and takes little space for storage.  A great pattern and guidance from Lee Heinrich of Freshly Pieced, tools from Deb Tucker Studio 180 and her videos on how to use them on YouTube - and of course, Tilda's super pretty fabric.  Voilà- a hybrid quilt is born!

Materials:
Plum Garden and Lupine (blue) by Tilda
Kona white
Kaffe Fassett shot cotton / Denim
White flannel
Pattern:  Terrazzo by Lee Heinrich/Freshly Pieced
Aurifil 50 wt. Thread #2311 (muslin) and #1248 (blue)
Deb Tucker: V Block & Square Squared rulers

Size: 64" x 68"
August 2020

Kaleidoscope Quilts - A Recap and "The Bat"

Kaleidoscope Quilts & More ... Part 3

Time to show the third Kaleidoscope quilt I know how to make - but first a brief recap of the earlier two.  Remember, all these quilts have the same number of cut pieces and are sewn the same way.   The ONLY difference is how much focus fabric and background fabric is used - and where those fabrics are positioned.  

I have given them made up names:  The Star, The Batik and The Bat - just to help distinguish one from another.  

Let's begin with the easiest, "THE STAR".
 HERE is the post with lots of pictures and diagrams on how to make this style and sew the units.  

It's a great one for beginners.  Fabric placement is the same for every block and the layout is great for scrap quilts.  This is a picture of the ONE block you need to make to create a STAR design.

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 Second is this more complex kaleidoscope quilt which I call "THE BATIK".  This design requires some thinking and layout.  But the final product is impressive. 

Best starting tip for all your quilts is to make sure the colors are evenly spread out in your blocks. No matter what quilt I work on - I always make piles!  Here are the corner triangles for a scrap kaleidoscope.   

And here are the larger Isosceles triangles.  Take one of each color and put it into a pile.  This gives you a whole spectrum of what you are using with no duplicates.   Do this until you run out of fabric.  If you have duplicates - put them in the first pile you will sew from, then the third and maybe the last pile you will work on.  Just spread out the colors or patterns. 

Back to the batik quilt ... start sewing one stack at a time. The post HERE has lots of step-by-step pictures of the sewing technique that applies to all Kaleidoscope quilts as well as step-by-step layout tips for this design.

When you have finished that first completed color stack, set them aside and clip them together.   Start sewing on your next separated color pile - and when finished, set those aside and clip them together. 

When the sewing of the main portions are done - its time to grab a stack and begin the layout ... left to right, until you run out.  Then grab another finished stack and put those on the design wall where you left off.  Now is NOT the time to start moving things around - wait until you have all your pieces laid out - then tweak it by rotating or switching.  

With this particular design it's better to add the corner triangles after the main units are sewn and laid out.  It will take more time popping up and down from design wall to sewing machine.  Take pictures on your phone and work only on one row at a time.  The benefit is color flexibility for the corner triangles and a great looking quilt.
Again - the post HERE goes into more detail with pictures. 

This is a picture of the TWO blocks needed to make this design which I call The Batik.


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And lastly - the third design which I call "THE BAT" (please advise if there is a proper name). It is really fun, uses up the most focus fabric and creates a different mood depending on your fabric choice. Here is Tim Holtz's Materialize which is all Gothic and very Halloween.  The post about this quilt is HERE. 

Let's de-construct this last design - here are the two blocks you need to make.  Notice that one of the blocks is ALL focus fabric in the larger Isosceles triangles (left image).  The right unit has only 4 focus fabrics. 

The background fabric didn't match but it is all black.  When all sewn together, the black background looks like 'bat wings' and is very dominant.  Pretty simple to remember for this design - all corners are the same as the background fabric.  No hopping up and down from design wall to sewing machine to fiddle with what color goes on the corner triangles!

Here are the same two blocks but in Retro-30's fabric.  When assembled, the large 'pointy' stars in this quilt are more noticeable and the 'bat wing' motif of the Tim Holtz quilt disappears.

And here is a full picture of this quilt - using softer colors and a lighter background makes such a difference!

This series on the three different designs I have made is a lot to absorb.  I am also aware that the blog posts do focus on various aspects of each quilt and not necessarily in order from simplest design to most complex.  All these quilts were made over a period of years.  They look complicated, but with a little confidence - very do-able.

While I have used the AccuQuilt dies for all these quilts, I have the Marti Michell template to try and look forward to that soon. Whether you use a cutter with a die or rotary cut  using a plastic ruler - the triangle geometry is the same. 

 Going to the 'sidebar' and clicking on Kaleidoscope will send you to all articles on them.  Please continue to send me emails, pictures and questions - I will do my best to help :)