Quiltmania Magazine – Chopin – A Passionate Quilter From Texas

Well, here we are the next day and I realized that I did not add anything about my Brinton Hall. Today is such a better day than yesterday. I am now certain that Mr Fibro and Mr Weather Changer got me but good this week along with Mr Reflux – darn it! But Zantac 150 saved me today – thinking about taking one a day until Mr Rebound Reflux goes away!!!!! I hate losing a day to my hobby when I cannot find my brain or my tummy hurts!

So here we go for another update! My Brinton Hall has been ignored long enough! All I need to do is to finish the center medallion hexagons and I can go on with my re-design of the quilt. I would love to have it ready for show next year (being the dreamer that I am). I have it back on the design board and filling in the remainder of the hexagons to square it. Then I will sew the medallion to a background fabric – oh joy – another fabric color decision!

Here is a picture of the center medallion hexagon placements pattern that I am now working on. This pattern is from a Quiltmania Magazine.

As you can see the top and bottom of the medallion requires 10 hexagons to fill in the “empty” space. I thought that it would look good to use the colors that were closest to the large flowers (color coordinator from the 1960’s). I will sew them together last because after working on the corners I may have to change the color selections – we will see.

Being the “UN-scrappy quilter” I am, for the 4 corners, I selected one section and then decided that I would use the same colors for each of the corners. I am hoping that the corners will look OK because I am not doing what I did with the top and bottom group of hexagons. (Hum I wonder if this is a wrong move – I may need to rethink this) (It may look better if I continue on with the “matching” of colors OR go scrappy with the top and bottom hexagons – time will tell.) After I selected my colors, I stacked them in 4’s, labeled them (hopefully I will not screw this up) and put them in order in my handy-dandy Plano fishing tackle storage container. Love those Plano’s!

Now I am ready to sew each row together and then the corners (4 times). If I try to go with different scrappy on each corner (probably like most quilters would do) it would be too unorganized for me. Oh well, another technique to work on next year, but so far I am doing much better with scrappy that I used to be.

Next on my list to select a piecing project to work on during the day. I am bound and determined to get that long arm going as I have 6 tops PLUS to quilt. It is nice to have a quilt loaded and when I get tired I can sit at the machine and sew on another project. I have 5 applique projects going now and no time for boredom there, just do not need to start another one although it is tempting!

Have a wonderful week-end, stay cool as winter is around the corner! 2017 is 5 months and 1 day away!!!!!!!!! Are we happy yet?

Well, we are still in the wonderful summer time in South Texas. The heat high will just not move….. We are experiencing 100’s by 4 PM and in the morning it is 77 with high humidity. The pretty green grass is slowing turning to a light green and without rain will, of course die off again. But we are lucky – at least the hot summer days did not start until the 10th or so of July rather than the 1st of June!

Brinton Hall and I have been the best of buddies since last week. I have finished all of the “flowers” for the Medallion and am just thrilled with the outcome. As I worked on the 7 blocks – I found that by spraying the center fabric with some sizing and pinning the “crowns” onto the fabric that it was a little easier to applique. The fabric was easier to control (no wrinkles) by using the sizing and pressing the freezer paper to the back side of the fabric.

Backside with Basting Stitches and FP Template Stabalizer — Backside with Basting Stitches and FP TemplateStabilizer

Here is another trick that I found to be a time saver – mainly because the Hexies have to be in the correct placement or one may mess up (OK this step was a necessity for me once I messed up 2 and had to “rip” them out and re-sew). Not fun with those tiny stitches! I used the template that I made to “fussy cut” the 10 1/2″ blocks. This worked great by placing the Hexie’s on the outside. I used non-stick tape so the hexies would stay put.

Then I used the clips to hold each Hexie in place before sewing the crown.

Here they are – enjoy! I know I am a tired, but happy camper this afternoon. To be able to complete this in a week is great. The rest of the work will be done at night and tomorrow I will be cutting out the remaining 300 + hexagons to complete the Medallion – Boy I certainly hope Quiltmania #108 doesn’t get here until August…. (LOL). Here are the finished blocks on the design wall with a few of the “white” hexies around the Green Crown.

Brinton Hall Quilt 2015 — Brinton Hall Quilt Medallion Flowers

And here are pictures of the individual blocks.

Block 1 of Brinton Hall Medallion — Green Crown

This quilt will not be one to just “breeze” through. It is a wonderful challenge quilt that my Carpel Tunnel and Dorsal Wrist will remember for a long time! (LOL). It will definitely be entered into Quilt Shows starting in 2016. Cutting the fabric was not a time consumer, but preparing and sewing the Hexagons and Hexie Crowns were slow and time-consuming — at least I thought they were until I started appliqueing the Crowns to the block! Just to applique the Hexie Crown on to the 10 1/2″ square took 1 (one) hour per block. I did not count all the hours, but I have not stopped working on this project since last Thursday to finish the remaining 6 blocks.

PS – Of course while looking at Karen’s blog yesterday (http://faeriesandfibres.blogspot.ca) she showed a quilt called Gardens of a King, a pattern that she tested for Missie Carpenter of Traditional Primitives. The pattern is now available from her shop. (http://traditionalprimitives.com/). I think I may really be nuts if I decide to order this pattern, but the quilt really caught my eye. Missie is very easy to contact if you have any questions regarding the quilt. So pretty!