Home From Retreat

Or this post could be titled 'What I Sewed at Retreat'.

I worked on several projects at retreat. First I pieced Indian Hatchet blocks.

I hadn't intended to start another Indian hatchet quilt but those triangles keep accumulating. I didn't trim the blocks at retreat, I'll do that at home. Here are a few blocks that have been trimmed.

At every retreat, Clothesline Creations gifts everyone a Villa Rosa card. Several retreats ago, the pattern was the Twinkle card. I thought it was really cute so I made blocks for a Twinkle quilt. Of course I made more blocks because I want a larger quilt. Instead of two charm packs, I purchased a layer cake at Clothesline Creations last summer during my birthday outing. I cut the layer cake into 5" squares then pieced the HST's at home so they would be ready to sew.

The fabric line I used was My Summer House by Bunny Hill Designs. The above picture is not a good picture but you get the idea. 

For my third project, I pieced 36 posey blocks for the Garden Party quilt. I had the pieces prepped for last spring's retreat but never got to them. 

I think Garden Party will be a retreat project and live in the retreat bag until next spring. The blocks have not been trimmed, I'll wait until they're all finished to do that.

Garden Party is designed by Bonnie Hunter and can be found in her Addicted to Scraps book.

Lolly's Fabrics provided door prizes during show & tell Friday evening. My name was drawn for one of the prizes, it was a project basket filled with all sorts of goodies!

I always have a great time at retreat but there is nothing like coming home and sleeping in my own bed. 😉

Since I've returned home, the farmer and I switched the east wall quilt, Radiant Blues is now on display!

Someday I want to make this quilt again but make it large enough for a bed. I'd change the feathered star size to 18" finished, or maybe even the 24" size. Colleen did an excellent job with her quilting.

Linking to Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

Small Indian Hatchet Quilt

After I finished the Let's Pop Some Corn table runner, I trimmed the  Indian Hatchet blocks that were pieced over the winter. This quilt isn't going to be a large quilt like the one I pieced last summer.

I added the borders after I was home from retreat, she measures 32.5" square.

The blocks were pieced using this tutorial.

The outside border was fabric given to me to be used in charity quilts.

I pieced several other small quilts since I was home also. Backing and binding have been prepared for them, but since I miter my binding, those triangles keep accumulating.

I've started a new project to use the triangles. Pineapple blocks are definitely not a Leader/Ender project. 

For Leaders/Enders I'm sewing 1.5" squares together to eventually make foursies.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down

Indian Hatchet

Indian Hatchet is another quilt sent to Lori for quilting. I pieced these blocks on and off for several years and she's finally totally finished!

Indian Hatchet has been quilted with an all over stacked snails design which is perfect for this very scrappy quilt. The quilting doesn't show on the top of the quilt.

After washing she measures 64" by 79" and has become the couch quilt.

And the back side of the couch.

For the binding, I used a variety of fabrics.

The backing fabric is several large pieces of yardage leftover from other projects. I thought a scrappy backing was appropriate for this quilt.

Linking to Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Peacock Party, Whoop Whoop Party, Finished or Not  Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts, Oh Scrap

Indian Hatchet Blocks

Another UFQ is the Indian Hatchet blocks that have been sewn as leaders/enders. I'm tired of this project and ready to have it finished. I counted how many more blocks I needed for an 8 by 10 block setting. Then I took that number and multiplied by 16 because there are 16 little blocks in one block.

After I  sew the odd triangles onto the 2.5" background square and press them, they get trimmed to size. Then the background triangle is trimmed off the back. 

Those triangles I threw in the trash. I wasn't struck by lightning and the quilt police didn't come smashing into my house to arrest me for wasting those corners! 

Four squares are sewn into into a small block. 

And then those 4 blocks are sewn into the larger block.

Now I have the 80 blocks I need. Next is to trim all the blocks to 8.5" then arrange them on the display floor.

Most of these triangles are leftovers from one project or another but I do admit to taking a few odd sized scraps and cutting them into triangles to add some zing colors.

Linking to  Needle & Thread Thursday, Peacock Party, TGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts, Oh Scrap

Jane Stickle Retreat

I worked on several different projects at retreat. One of the projects was to sew the scrappy Indian Hatchet blocks. I made 15 blocks.

The triangles are all scraps from flippy corners or bias triangles from binding. There were a lot of black corners in this bunch, they'll be mixed with the rest of the blocks and won't be so somber looking.

Here is a link to more posts about the Indian Hatchet blocks. 

Nineteen more blocks are needed to reach my goal of 80 blocks. I think this project will come to an end this year.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Stitch Sew & Show, Oh Scrap

Indian Hatchet Blocks & String X

While I've been working on Double Delight, I've been running two leader/ender projects under the needle.

The first project is Indian Hatchet. I've accumulated quite a few small blocks. I've cut the white corners off the backs, now I need to get them trimmed to 2.5".

I don't understand why they're called Indian Hatchet, they don't look like any hatchet I've ever seen! I've made blocks similar to these as an autograph block.

The second project is String X. String X is a Bonnie Hunter pattern. I had a stack of stringed blocks so I counted to see how many more I needed. I'm using old muslin for the foundation and cut exactly the number I needed to make this quilt into a 60" by 80" quilt.

Those string blocks have all been sewn now they also need to be trimmed.

After the string X blocks are trimmed to 4.5" by 10.5", the corner point needs to be cut on the top and bottom of the strip.

Bonnie has directions with her pattern how to cut the points. I don't do it how she says, it's too complicated!

I don't have a lot of rulers but the ones I do have, pay for themselves with their convenience. One of my favorites is a Half & Quarter ruler. My ruler is a Fons & Porter brand (purchased with a 50% of coupon at JoAnn's) but there are many other brands available.

I simply lay my ruler on the trimmed rectangle with the 2" mark along the left side of the block. I make sure the black mark on the top of the ruler is even with the top of the rectangle, then cut the 45* angle.

All of the rectangles have been trimmed and are ready to have the side triangles attached. 

 

My mother has been gone for 15 years but I'm still using her fabrics. I dug deep in a box and pulled out this old dark red fabric. I think there is enough for all of the blocks. That brown calico corner piece is also from her stash.

This project has advanced to the next stage of leader/ender. I decided to trim the string X blocks because there were a LOT less of them than the hatchet blocks.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Put Your Foot Down, Stitch Sew & Show,  Needle & Thread Thursday 

Indian Hatchet

I sewed cut off triangles onto 2.5" white squares at the Jane Stickel retreat in November then trimmed them to size after I returned home from the retreat.

I took the squares along to Phoenix and pieced 16 blocks.

Now I have 46 blocks, I need 34 more.

Here is a link to the first post about these blocks. This is going to be a very colorful quilt! There were a lot of blue triangles in this bunch but I sew a lot of blue quilts.

I have plenty more triangles to sew onto the squares. This has become my leader/ender project for now.

The last time I posted about this project, several people commented they sew triangles together, trim them to size and use them in another quilt. That is too much work for me. This quilt is as improv as I get.

Linking to Stitch Sew & Show, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, Peacock Party, Whoop Whoop Party, TGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Brag About Your Beauties, Patchwork & Quilts,  Oh Scrap

Indian Hatchet

Sunday morning of the retreat, I pulled my Indian hatchet project (after I had finished orange sherbet) formerly known as nameless quilt. I've accumulated quite a few cut off triangles over the last several years. It was time to make more blocks.

The little blocks have been trimmed to 2.5". Next thing is to sew them into larger blocks. I really don't know when that is going to happen. 

I don't know how large this quilt will become. My original idea had been to make the blocks into a charity quilt but I'm liking this hodgepodge of triangles. I may just keep it for myself.

Just to keep you informed, I'm leaving tomorrow and flying to Phoenix for several weeks. I have posts set to publish but I won't be linking up anywhere. If you want to read my posts, you'll either have to subscribe or actively look for my blog.

Linking to Put Your Foot Down,Peacock Party, Whoop Whoop Party, TGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Brag About Your Beauties 

Nameless Going in Timeout

There are now 30 of the nameless blocks pieced which is a good start on the quilt. All the triangles used in this quilt were leftover from other projects. There are enough of the 8" finished blocks to set 5 by 6 which makes a 40" by 48" crib quilt. 

As I've said before, I want a larger quilt. The blocks are going to be stored until I have more triangles to finish it to approximately 60" by 80" or, more accurately, 64" by 80".

To randomly change the subject, I baked cookies last week. For a change, I substituted half of the chocolate chips with white chips. Eight dozen cookies went into the freezer, I'm well stocked now, at least for several weeks. I enjoy my cookies with coffee while grandpa and the grandsons enjoy theirs with milk. 

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Clever Chameleon, Put Your Foot Down, Needle & Thread Thursday

More Nameless Sewing

I'm still calling my project the nameless quilt. It's fun making something from the many triangles leftover from other projects. I really like the design the white fabric is making.

Wow, you can definitely see a difference in the blocks sewn sewn in the first group than from the 2nd group. After sewing the first group, I found a baggie with more triangles but most of them were darker fabrics. The darker triangles went into the 2nd group.

So far 25 blocks have been completed. I'm planning on piecing 5 more blocks then I'm going to stop for awhile. I'm not planning on stopping quilt making anytime soon so I'll still be accumulating triangles.

With 5 more blocks, there would be enough of the 8" finished blocks to make a crib quilt 40" by 48". I want a larger quilt, so this project is going on hold while I collect more triangles.

Some future day this quilt will see the light of day again.

Linking to Peacock Party, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Brag About Your Beauties, Finished Or Not Friday, UFO Busting, Oh Scrap

Nameless Quilt

I'm still working on the nameless project. In my last post about these blocks, someone commented that they were called Indian Hatchet blocks. I googled it and found a pattern here.

My blocks are different in that I'm using different sized triangles and setting the small blocks differently.

I sewed a lot of squares then sew them into blocks. So far I've sewn 14 of the 8" finished blocks. This is not the final arrangement, just for fun to see my progress.

Then I got busy and pieced more of the small blocks. These are the triangles that are left. It's not surprising that there are more blue triangles than any other color.  There isn't much variety anymore.

Several people commented that putting sashing in between the blocks would look nice, I agree with that idea. It would certainly simplify sewing the blocks together.

But for now, I'll keep piecing the larger blocks until I've used most of the small blocks. I don't know how large this quilt will be. It maybe I'll just keep working on and off on this quilt for several years until I decide it's large enough. Then I'll decide how to put it together.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Clever Chameleon, Put Your Foot Down, Needle & Thread Thursday