Making out with BOB - the end

I don't think I ever showed this one off. But I assure you, it was finished during lent of 2012.
Making out with BOB (Bag of Blocks), made of sundry 'loose blocks' and fabric from stash, supplemented with newly printed Inklingo-shapes to make it all fit together.
There are 6" blocks, 4.5" blocks, old and new, hexagon flowers, triangles, and fabrics old and new.

... and I love it. Frankly, I do. It is simply quilted. Straight lines. On the machine. By me.
And it has become a favourite cuddle-up-on-the-couch quilt for everyone, because it is neither too big to be cumbersome or too small to be useless.

P.S. I used the pink-and-blue bunny-toile for the back. It is over the top and absolutely wonderful.

Making out with BOB - week 2.7

Closing in on having a finished top.

Making out with BOB - week 2.6

So, here they are, two rows of hexagon-flowers stitched together. The two strips are not joined to each other, just a mock-up, and ... looking good.

If they don't work with the quilt, I will have a lovely table-runner for spring.

Making out with BOB - week 2.4

SO, triangles are printed (using the Inklingo 3" Diamond collection), and here's the mock-up.

I think this will work.
Next step : Get the top and bottom strips joined into strips instead of just being a mock-up on a design wall.

Making out with BOB - week 2.3

Don't get too used to see me posting every day, it's just ... I seem to be on a roll with this one, and have - so far - had time to actually work on it, AND take pictures, AND write on this blog.
The really shocking thing about this is, that if you work on a project, it will progress !

The 'Tilde has time to quilt'-thing can change at the drop of a hat, but until that happens, I'll post my daily progress, or, if I think that is too little to merit interest, post 'something else'.

... now ... where was I ... yes ... something to make it longer.

A search through BOB brought forth 16 Hexagon flowers, each with 3" finished sides ... they are remnants of a project I don't remember even thinking of doing, but made with Inklingo (so they are no more than 5 years old). I can see that I used the now sold-out CD-1, but the 1" Hexagons and 1" Diamonds are available as downloads.
They look sort-of nice as they are placed above and below the body of the quilt, so I think I'll print some 3" Inklingo 60-degree triangles, in both the pink and the blue setting-fabric and use 14 of the 16 to make top and bottom borders of this one.

If all goes to pot, or the two elements don't work well together, I can always make a table-runner from the flowers.

Making out with BOB - week 1.4

And then I remembered the mostly pink batik with butterflies. Whatever block colours that are not found in the mottled blue, are, most definitely in the pink.
And I remembered that Linda Franz has two collections out with HST (Half Square Triangles) and QST (Quarter Square Triangles) the size that works with 4.5" and 6" blocks set on point.
I'll use the 6" On-Point Triangles for this one.
This too will work.

Making out with BOB - week 1.3

I think this blue batik (which was bought to go with Sunflowers, but seemed too washed out when it arrived and said Sunflowers were laid upon it for scrutiny), will play nicely with all the blocks.

Most of the block-colours are in there anyway :-)
But since these blocks are in all sizes I'll start by log-cabin'ing them.
Log-cabin / border strips, cut at 1.25" wide should work.
... or I could just print them with Inklingo. I've got the 0.75" wide Log Cabin collection that will make the 4.5" blocks into 6" ones.
Yep. Inklingo 0.75" LogCabin collection will do the trick.
... I'll cut the squares, all on my own.

Hexagon Alphabet

I have finally moved on the Hexagon letters that I published on the Inklingo Sampler blog in 2011
(see here). There will - in the fullness of time - be better directions for putting it together than is now up at the Sampler-blog, but ... here are the pictures to tide you over :-)

The front, all pieced together and with the border attached.

Backing, pieced from left overs, miscuts and other scraps of the two fabrics used in the top.

Marked up! and with the thread ready to roll.

Gratuitous kitty-picture

Sunflower # 22

Another attempt at a fussy-printed centre.
It looks good enough. The wonkyness  of the centre is due to the fabric (the flowers on this batik are not as symmetrical as they seem at first glance), not the method.

A Finished Quilt !!!

Yes, dear Reader, I am proud to tell you, that I have FInally finished my TeaRoses.

Quilted by Sue Baddley of Summit Creek Quilts.
And as of a two days ago, it now also has a binding :-)

AND as of today, there's even pictures :-)

Front of the quilt

And the pieced backing, using remains of the collection I used for the flowers

A corner-view

Sort-of close-up of the quilting. I chose an all-over, because I don't like my quilts too stiff. A good custom-job would probably be extremely beautiful, but also make the quilt really stiff and unyieldy. I like it as it is.

Sunflowers on the Design Wall

SO, I am stalling at 21 Sunflowers. Yes, yes, yes, I know there are only 19 in the picture, but that's because the two not in the picture are not on the design-wall right now :-)
And, as you can see, the Sunflowers are separated into two different groups.

The differences between the groups isn't as clear on the pictures as they are in real life, so you'll have to take my word for it, that the (so-far) smaller group is very ... clear cut, compared to the (so-far) larger group.
It isn't that one group is beautiful and the other is not, it is just that ... one (the larger) is much more ... fuzzy in the lines.

What I'm thinking right now is, that I'm looking at two small/ish quilts, both with 12 blocks. The ... clear-cut one to be made with a white/neutral background, the more fuzzy-around-the-edges one with the many-coloured green I bought for background for the Sunflowers.

Hit and miss

Well. Sometimes I learn old things. Things I knew (if I stopped to think), things that I should have considered. With this block, the lesson that has been taught (again) is : when using small-ish bits to make a block, don't use fabrics with a large-ish pattern ... at least not if you want the bits to 'read' right.
I like the Sunflower proper here. I do not like the outermost triangles. They don't really work with the rest. After seeing it finished and on the design-wall, I actually considered frog-stitching the outermost row of triangles and setting something else in there, BUT, they stay. I don't mind that my quilts are not picture perfect, and that stupid choices and teaching-blocks are visible.
And let me tell you, it looks a lot less messy on the picture compared to real life.
The magic of photographs ...

Sunflower # 20

I like this one. Really like it. The blue innermost triangles work well here (me thinks) and the general brightness of the block ... what can I say. Love it :-)

Blue or Green

And now it's time to get a wee bit back to the Sunflowers. They are so much easier to tow along than a complicated lace-shawl, or indeed a full quilt which is in the process of being bound :-)
This weeks offering, which is Sunflower # 19, looks like this :

Colours are a strange thing. Consider the centre-fabric on this. When seen on its own, it looks green ... well ... mostly green, with some teal thrown in too. When seeing the circle (without the rest of the Sunflower around it), it still seems mostly green-and-teal.
Here, with the bright 'other colurs', it looks mostly blue.
The influence one colour has on another, never ceases to amaze me.

Double the bits

Double the Sunflower, Double the joy. Well ... almost double the number of pieces 97 bits of fabric in this one, and that is without the background-fabric on. That will add another 4 bits to make 101 pieces of fabric in one 12" block.
I must be mad.
Sunflower # 18 for your perusal. Another fussy-printed centre, and - again - tried to match the colour of the pattern on the centre, and the inner-most triangles.

Still flowering

Sunflower # 17.

A growing patch of flowers

So now there are 16 Sunflowers.
And they are looking good, even if I say so myself :-)

The bright and the bold

More Sunflower. I like the light rays around the sun-face on this one. I liked the dark orangey ones too, but I think I like this one better.
The yellow fabric I've used for the middle bits are the - now almost extinct - remnants of one of the first F/4s of batik I bought. It cost an arm and a leg, but the colour was too lovely for me to resist. It still is. Love those saturated, unafraid, yellows

Auditioning backgrounds - part 2

Well, after all the song-and-dance on this blog about what background to choose for my Sunflowers, I bit the bullet, and now I have two options, none of which have been shown before.

Option 1 : Lots of different blues.

Option 2 : A fabric bought the weekend before last, which actually has all the nuances of greens that I use in the flowers proper, and a few more, plus some yellows and blues too, and a big leaves pattern, which will probably be unrecognizable when cut into pieces.


I think I'll go with Option 2, the fabric of the many greens, for the main quilt, and with Option 1 for the 'Reject' quilt.
And no, they are not properly rejected blocks. As was the case with the Passacaglia, there will be blocks that doesn't work with the rest, and the ones that stick out the most will be getting a multiple-blue background and will - eventually - form a quilt of its own ... hopefully a quilt smaller than the one with greens in the background :-)

All things bright ...

Well, this one certainly is bright.
Sunflower # 15, for your perusal and (hopefully) enjoyment. The fabric I've used for the outer diamonds doesn't work too well, but ... it stays !