Month: November 2016

Greetings to all.  Although I have not done a blog for a while I have been busy (I guess you could call it that).  First of all I am so very excited for our country with the election of Donald John Trump.  May God bless him and his family and keep them safe throughout his term.   God Bless America and all of the Deplorable individuals who were in the basket with me!

Now on to the important things in our lives – QUILTING!  The last thing I remember about blogging on my blog was to show off my birthday fabrics and beginning to assemble my Circa 2016.  I am beginning to think that 2016 was just not my year for my quilting!  It seemed to start in January with the mess with Sitar’s basket quilt – which is still hanging on the rack waiting for the trash can or stems/flowers to be put on the basket, or just quilt it!  Then there was the Legacy one!  What a nightmare.  Why not throw in Grammy Squares – wrong color used for the final round!  So needless to say when I started Circa 2016 I just knew this would be a winner and a great quilt to enter into the San Antonio show next year.  I have been trying to decide how to write a funny blog on the Circa 2016 Saga and so here goes – remembering a picture can say a thousand words!  LOL

I loved making the blocks for this quilt.  Here are a few pictures showing how I put it together. (Some of the pictures are not the best, but you will get the idea as you go forward).

But WAIT – After sending the pictures to my dear buddy Wanda (who also has an eagle eye) sent me a text and told me to really look at 2 of the blocks – Can you guess which ones? I knew that it had to be corrected because I had not paid attention to color placement!  Then I realized that on the bottom right there was a problem with puckering – made my day!!!

So back to the thing I love most – RIPPING.  Yes, I could not let the blocks stay in the quilt as it was a harmless error in color placement.  They looked great when they were not on point (at least I did not catch the problem then).  Then I realized that I had another problem – Fabric just does not “ease” in for me!!!!!  Now the quilt was beginning to take on a life of its own with nothing but problems for me (caused by me).

OK so now I have removed 2 blocks and tried to get the puckering out of the bottom left.  Then I began to realize that there was an issue with the very center medallion…..You had to be up close and personal to see it.

Not so fast – the pattern called for 1 1/2″ HST border.  This is where I realized that my quilt was not SQUARE!  And it mattered – BIG LEAGUE (good saying).  Here is a picture of what happened next and yes – I ended up ripping the entire quilt apart knowing that this quilt was headed to the trash, or the “never-never-never” drawer.  I figured the problem existed in putting all the squares together on point – SOMEWHERE!

Being the Type A that I am I was not going to let this quilt beat me – although I had ripped out the entire quilt which took more time than I wanted to devote to the project and maybe some STRESS.  So I decided to make up my own pattern.  One thing was to put the 1 1/2″ HSTs as the border after the hourglass blocks and go from there.

I had even selected the block patterns that I liked from the Circa 2016 pattern to make a few more borders:

BUT – if you will look closely at the top left of the remake of the Medallion – you will see there was another PROBLEM that would make me re-think everything about Circa 2016!  I studied it and tried to see what I had done wrong.  Bottom line?  The problem started when I put the Medallion together back in April or May.  The Antique Muslin (Moda) fabric for some reason (probably the black cat theory) was stretching and it caused me issues that are not correctable!

See all the nice wrinkles?  Additionally, I went back to the pattern, called the quilt store that put the pattern out, and my final analysis is that I was doomed from the beginning.   My next action is to rip out the blocks and put them in the “never-never-never” drawer or the more I write about this mess I am sure that someone will receive the blocks or the trash can will be full this next Friday!  Either way, I have decided that I am done with Circa 2016 and as happy as I am with the election I am DEFINITELY not pleased with my quilting endeavors this year.  What a mess!

OK – you may ask – what lessons have I learned this year (again).  NO MORE ON LINE FREE PATTERNS!  I must not forget my own rules because as soon as I do I end up in a mess.  I really did like my quilt, but it would not be worth my time to remake it because when you rip out quilts with 1 1/2″, 2 1/4″ and 1 1/2″ blocks your fabric will not hold up and it is just insane to continue repeating something and ultimately end up with the same bad results – No MATTER WHAT.  I feel that there is an issue in the fact that the blocks finished at 2 1/4″ rather than 2″.  Most of problems I have experienced this year in my quilts are designer flaws, but then I must take the credit for NOT reading the patterns close enough or making a test block before starting.  I do believe that my mind was elsewhere!  So my 2017 Resolution is to never have a year like this one AGAIN!

Anyone interested in the blocks can send me an email and the first one I receive will get all the blocks – free shipping!

Well, there have been many times this year that I was ready to just sell all of my beautiful fabric, all of my lovely patterns, and books and get my knitting out and the rocking chair and become an old woman!  But alas, blogging makes the world go ’round and such a great way to make fun of one’s self in life’s little boo boo’s!  New and difficult quilting projects provides me the challenge I need to continue on with my passion.

I have now prepped the 3 blocks for Ms Potts (3 months behind on that project) and working on prepping the next 5 blocks for Bountiful Life.  I am almost finished with Block 6 and hopefully can be through with that one in a few days.  I am now thinking of 2017.  It has to be a better year for me because 2016 was the worst year in producing quilts than when I started quilting in early 2000.  It is time for me to start working on more complex quilts to enter into quilt shows.  I need that challenge of making a quilt for show that requires precision and 100% accuracy!

I have ordered some Kaffe Fasett fat quarter bundles for my Sweet Surrender.  I wonder if this was a mistake as I originally thought I would use my 1930’s fabric (remember the Farmer’s Wife pattern that never got off the ground?).  I am beginning to look ahead and thinking that I will delve into my Australian quilt patterns and work on them next year.  But I must finish up Stonefields and my Brinton Hall and continue on with Bountiful Life.

I pray that each and every one of you have a blessed Thanksgiving and enjoy your family – we have so much to be thankful for this year!