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| Amelia |
I've
been staying inside and cool during this Tennessee heat wave.
It's the perfect excuse to retreat to my sewing room, especially
since I got to play with my new Blue Wren dies.
The
block name is Propeller, a vintage design from the late 1930's that was
published in the Kansas City Star under the name Air Ship Propeller. I used EQ8 and BlockBase to lay out the quilt and experiment with color ideas.
For
my modern version, I chose summery fabric in hot pink checks and
stripes, with a touch of yellow and a background of pale pink.
The
curves sewed up nicely as long as I maintained a consistent ¼”
seam. The yellow center piece is machine appliqued on with light yellow thread after finishing the block.
After
assembling the quilt, I stitched on the block seams using baby pink
thread and a serpentine design. Then I changed to straight stitch to
sew across each propeller blade.
Amelia
finished at 50” square, nice for a picnic once it cools down a bit.
I'm too old and delicate to eat outside when it's 94 degrees with a
heat index of 109!
Dies
used:
Blue
Wren 6924 Propeller 10”
Accuquilt
55017 Strips 2½” binding
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Ocean Stars
|
This
week's quilt has lots of small pieces, which took a while to cut and
stitch together. I believe it was worth the time, since I absolutely
love the final results.
Prairie
Star is a block often seen in antique quilts. I can't imagine how
long it would have taken to hand piece and hand quilt a larger bed
size version. I'm happy to have dies and cutters and a sewing
machine!
I
used up scraps from my blue, aqua, and white remnant bins. I
sewed on my Janome MC9450 in order to make use of the perfect ¼”
foot and lock stitch feature. Those Y-seams and points turn out so
crisp when you're accurate.
After
adding sashing in a white and gray circle print, I quilted in rows
with pale blue thread using a scallop stitch. Ocean Stars finished
at 51” square. I'm going to hang this cool and soothing quilt on our
bedroom wall for the summer.
Accuquilt
dies used:
55540
Prairie Star 14” finished
55059
Squares 2” finished
55017
Strips 2½”
This
sweet purple quilt makes me want to grab a book and snuggle in for a
while.
Three
lovely prints coordinate nicely with a bright white tone on tone
fabric. I used Blue Wren's 5” Gem Star die for the center blocks,
making all those points and seams easy to match. Amethyst Dreams
finished at 50” square after adding the borders.
I
chose light blue thread for free motion quilting in long rows using a
circle ruler. Then I switched to a straight stitch across the
curves, guided by a straight ruler. It made for a unique design that
I will use again.
I
love experimenting with everything about sewing and quilts, from
color to finishing. My mama started me early, at about age 3, hand
stitching little scraps of material. Even after sixty plus years of
sewing, I still enjoy trying and learning new techniques. Guess I'll
never stop!
Dies
used:
Blue
Wren 6817 Gem Star 5” finished quarter square
Accuquilt
55488 Strip 5½”
 |
| Skinny Churn Dash |
What
a fun quilt to sew! The classic churn dash pattern got a makeover
with a taller center section, creating a rectangular block.
I
returned to the remnant boxes to find fabric in green, aqua, coral,
gray and brown. Natural muslin makes a great neutral to focus on the
prints. There are no repeat blocks and all were stitched on Laney (Singer 301).
The 7” x 10” finished rectangles are set together, adding a 3”
muslin border for a 49” x 57” final size. I'm calling it Skinny Churn Dash.
Quilting with a medium taupe thread lightly emphasizes the stitching. I used a braided border ruler to quilt vertical rows that look like an allover design.
There's
not much change in my overall scrap total using a bit of this and a bit of
that, but I still love getting bonus quilts out of leftovers. On to
the next one!
Dies
used:
Blue
Wren
6047
Rectangles 2” x 6” and 2” x 3” finished
Accuquilt
55005
Rectangle 3½” x 6½”
55032
Strips 3½”
55018
Value Die Half Square Triangle 2½”
55017
Strips 2½”
