Sewing Scientist: June 2021

Brown Eyed Quilter Lakeview Quilt

When Emily the Brown Eyed Quilter needed testers for her quilt pattern - the Lakeview Quilt and mentioned scrappy and jellyroll roll friendly - well, I had to sign up! I have one of those big plastic storage containers full of jellyrolls and have been looking for a great quilt pattern to use some of them up.

When I pulled out my box I found that I had several strips of black and white prints. There were several different patterns and I had varying amounts of each print.

I then looked at my shorter cuts of solids looking to see what I thought would look good with black & white prints. Immediately a few bright almost neon solids jumped out at me. I cut them into the required strip width out of what fabric I had. Had the largest scrap of the green and orange colors and smallest pieces of the turquoise and pink.

When it was time to start sewing my black & white strips together I laid them all out on my table in value order. I put the prints with the most white on the left and the prints with the most black on the right. The center had prints that were close to 50/50.

I had the most of a white print with a black paint splash like pattern. So much of it that almost every set of three strips used one in it.

As I sewed my sets of three strips I grabbed a strip from the light section. middle section, and the dark section. This way I would have a graduation from lighter to darker in my blocks for a more cohesive pattern.

This method worked well for the fabrics I had since they were all the same color scheme. If I had done colorful strips for my scrappy quilt, then I would likely have gone with a more random pattern. The most difficult part was trying to create a randomness to my neon colors when piecing the top. The use of a design wall was super helpful in doing this part. It also helps to think out the math of it too.

I knew I had 9 blue and 9 pink blocks. There are 8 rows so I knew 7 rows would have 1 blue and 1 pink and there would need to be one row with 2 blue and 2 pink (but not the same row). I also knew I had slightly more green than orange blocks. I love Sudoku games and use a similar mindset when arranging my blocks. I try to make sure I have the same number of items in each column and row and that like ones don't touch.

I tried hard not to create any discernable pattern and I played around with block placement for a day. I left it up on my design wall and moved pieces as I felt they needed it. After a day I felt good about how it looked and started sewing.

I love that the Lakeview Quilt Pattern included instructions to make this a zero waste pattern. By simply sewing an additional line you create extra "bonus blocks" that you can then use to make something else. I made the Twin size Lakeview Quilt and the Bonus Blocks would have been more than enough to make a baby sized quilt.

My first thought was to use the bonus blocks in piecing a back for my quilt. Then my son said he liked the quilt and I figured it would look great on the daybed in his game room. The daybed is one of those that is made to look more like a sofa. It's a faux leather with a solid back and has arms like a sofa. So I thought making two pillow shams to sit across the back of the daybed would probably look really nice and the bonus blocks would be perfect for it.

I want the pillow shams to semi match so I did make a repeating pattern with my bonus blocks. I love how the bonus blocks coordinate with the quilt, but also contrast with it at the same time. Since I did organize my strips from light to dark, the bonus block are much darker and make the quilt appear much lighter.

I absolutely love how my quilt top turned out. I am even more thrilled that my 22 year old son actually wanted it for his game room. His game room is a bright blue color similar to the blue in the quilt and I think it is going to look great in there. I'm sending the Quilt and Pillow Shams to Emily to work her magic long arm quilting it. I'll be sure to share photos when it is completed.

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Running Stitch Quilts Deltille Quilt Pattern

I signed up to test the Deltille Quilt by Running Stitch Quilts not long before I had surgery on my hand. I loved the look of the pattern and was excited to do the scrappy version which used fat quarters. I have a few fat quarters of Anna Maria Horner fabrics and scraps from previous quilts and other projects that I thought this would be a great project for those pieces. I got all my pieces cut out before surgery.

After surgery I was in a rush to sew.

My surgery was on my right middle finger and I could not sew while it healed. It took way longer to heal than I anticipated. I could hardly wait to start on my quilt top.

However, once I got started on my Deltille Quilt - I made so many mistakes! They were all my fault for not reading and comprehending the instructions correctly. I have never used my seam ripper so much before.

I won't bore you with exactly what mistakes I made. I won't bother pointing out all the mistakes in my quilt either. It's not that I am ashamed of my mistakes - I'm not. It's that often many feel like they have to excuse their work when it is complimented by replying - "Thanks, but I made a mistake" while they proceed to point out said mistake. No one is perfect. The fact is you probably can't point out my mistakes on your own, so why should I point them out?

In years to come as I use my quilt and run my hands over the fabrics I'll likely think of many things. I'll remember using pieces in a top I made. I'll remember using some prints in another quilt. I'll remember when my friend Sharon gave me one of these fabrics to complete another quilt. I'll remember buying a few of these fabrics from a destash.

I'll also remember the first time I ordered some of these fabrics directly from Anna Maria Horner - about a month before I had a hysterectomy. I placed the order online and the email confirmation had a phone number on it. I thought I'd place another order and thought I'd call to see if both order could be shipped together. I was surprised to learn the number listed was for Anna Maria Horner's home! I was not expecting to talk to her.

Yes, I will also see the mistakes. I will think back to how I ran into so many problems as I sewed this quilt and will laugh at it. I'll think of all the nights I spent watching TV with my husband seam ripping various pieces many nights and how much my husband gave me a hard time. I'll also think of how I was almost to the last step and was ready to cry knowing that I was too far along at that point to seam rip everything. How I thought about starting all over from the beginning. I'll remember how I slept on it and came up with a "fix" in my dreams.

I absolutely adore my Deltille Quilt and can't wait to sit down and get it quilted. One of these days - maybe later this year - I need to recover from the thoughts of all my mistakes - I will make another Deltille. My husband never really comments about what I make. He knows that his opinion doesn't matter to me. I tend to make what I like and don't worry about what anyone else might think. But my husband really like the ombre mockup on the pattern that I printed out. He knows that I've been talking about eventually making a quilt for our King sized bed and said he thought that Ombre Quilt would look good. I have to agree and will have to figure out some colors as I want to do shades of blue and green - maybe include some purple.

My sashing on my Deltille Quilt is a Moda Grunge by Basic Grey. I think this is the tan color. I lucked out and got about 10 yards from Made Whimsy Fabric for only $2 a yard! I plan to set some of this aside to make my King size Deltille Quilt.

I can't finish this post without showing my two furry helpers.

Lazy Cozy Quilts - Mod Cabin Quilt Pattern

I'm so excited to share my latest quilt pattern test. I recently tested the Mod Cabin Quilt Pattern for Lazy Cozy Quilts (Posting this very late - I tested this pattern back in April and forgot to hit publish!). I tested the throw size and knew I would love this quilt for myself. I am often cold sitting at my desk in the fall and winter and thought I could use a throw to put over my lap.

Since I was making this for myself, I decided to use some of my favorite fabrics. I love just about anything by Anna Maria Horner and have long hoarded a few designs. One is Centerpiece from the Hand Drawn Garden collection. The print is large and I wanted a pattern that would highlight the centerpiece fabric.

The collection of flowers and colors in the Centerpiece design is just perfection. I paired it with designs from the Field Study and Dowry Collections.

The pattern includes the option to add a border to the quilt top. Initially I wasn't going to add one. But then when I saw my completed top I realized that the Eggplant Cracking Code print really stood out. I only had scraps left of that print and did not have enough left to make a border.

I went online to find some more fabric and ordered two yards. When I received it, it was the wrong color. I was crushed. I was ready to admit defeat and leave my quilt top without a border. Then my sweet friend Sharon (her blog is Sweet Mama Life) let me know she had two small cuts in her stash. I sent my son to her house to pick them up and I had to do a lot of piecing to get my border completed.

I added the border and at the time the bluebonnets were in full bloom and I decided to go to a nearby field to get photos.

I have to admit, adding the border was the perfect touch to the top. I love how it frames it.

Of course I had to do a quilt swirl photo to post on Instagram for #quiltswirlwednesday

I timed myself making this quilt top as it is touted to be able to be made in a day. Other testers also timed themselves and I have to admit, I was so much slower than most of them. It took me exactly 2 hours and 11 minutes to piece the top without the border. That doesn't include the time to cute the pieces - I would say that took about an hour. I also didn't time how long the border portion took since I wasn't able to cut just the strips I needed. If I had cut the border with the rest it probably would have added a few more minutes.