Stars and Stripes Guild Challenge Quilted--post 2

Stitching in the ditch

Goal number eight on my July list was to begin quilting the Stars and Stripes challenge. I started stitching in the ditch. I used matching thread in the needle and bobbin to complete the ditch quilting.

Straight lines for the top and bottom of the project

At the top and bottom of the project, I stitched straight lines. I had planned to use a blue silk thread and stitch the lines vertically. I abandoned this plan because the thread wanted to lay on top of the fabric and the stitches looked like the tension was incorrect. The vertical lines looked odd because they didn't line up with the striped fabric. I quilted vertical lines on the side borders. I chose to use white thread on the needle and bobbin to quilt horizontal lines that were a quarter of an inch apart.

Quilting lines in the stripe

In the stripe, I quilted more straight lines following the print of the stripe. I again used white thread.

Quilted vertical lines in the star center

In the center of the star, I quilted vertical lines using blue thread. I continued the theme of a quarter inch spacing for the lines. I had planned to divide the space into quarters and quilt the lines in a "V" shape; but, the vertical lines created the better texture.

Quilting curved lines

The quilting remained was the background of the star. I chose to continue the quarter inch spacing and the white thread. I chose a curved quilting ruler to stitch the lines. For the most part, I was able to join the lines from one section to another. 

Evidence of bleeding

It took me about 14 hours to complete the quilting which seems over the top because the piece measures 20 by 31 inches! I blocked it and  some of the red fabric bled. I wet the project again. I started with Dawn detergent and scrubbed the bleeding areas. The bleeding areas lightened; but, were still visible. I tried the Synthrapol detergent process next. The bleeding is mostly out. It is what it is. I can live with it.

Bleeding area after treatment

I quilted this project with cotton thread. I matched the bobbin thread to the color of thread in the needle.

Thread used to quilt the project

I added a facing and mitered corners. I hand stitched the loose edge of the facing to the quilt back. I added the hanging sleeve and label. 

Label

I used a yard and a half of scraps to complete this project. I've reduced my stash by two yards this month. I have a net loss of 75 and three quarter yards of stash used this year! With five full months remaining in the year, I'm close to meeting my annual goal of using 100 yards of stash. 

Back of project

Photos of the front will be shared and this post updated in October after the quilt has been shown in the guild quilt show. 

Linking to I Quilted This, Finished or Not Friday and Patchwork and Quilts.

Kaffe Challenge (AKA Dash) Is Complete--post 8

Simple meander quilting in the print fabric sections

The quilting is finished on my small group challenge using the Kaffe fabrics. I chose to stitch a simple Mander in the printed fabric sections. Quilting these areas went much faster than the arch lines I quilted in the solid fabrics!

Thread used

After I finished the quilting, I took a photo of the threads that I had used to quilt the project. While I preferred cotton thread, if I didn't have the color I needed, I used what I had. I am determined to use what I have on hand! Sometimes that mantra leads me on a whole other journey!

Overall quilting texture

The texture of the quilting is balanced and I like it. I did take the photo in low light because when standing away from the quilt, you don't see the quilting. I hope the color and design on the quilt will draw people for a closer look. I hope the quilting will draw their eye to linger on this project a minute or two longer!

Label

A friend gave me the label at least two decades ago! I'm glad to see that it has a home now! I name the piece Dash because the purple inserted strips reminded me of dashes.

View of the binding

Because I was unsure if I had enough of the purple scrap left for binding, I cut the binding at two inches instead of my usual two and half inches. This time, I machine attached it to the front and hand stitched it to the back.

Finished back

The sleeve is pieced from leftovers of the wide backing. I have a few strips left of that backing which makes me smile. The more I can use and not store, the better!

Previous posts were: Fabric Palette; Challenge Block; Challenge Block post three; Making a Back; Piecing A Back Take Two; Basted; Quilting Begun;

Finished front

I used seven yards of fabric which brings the total yardage used this month to yards. I have a net loss of stash for the year of 90.25 yards! Finishing Dash was goal number five on my June list. It was goal number 2r on my Annual list. I am happy that I have now finished six projects from my annual list. Five finishes were my goal! There will be more finishes to come!

Linking to I Quilted This, Finished Or Not Friday and Patchwork and Quilts.

Stars and Stripes Guild Challenge--post one

Some doodles

Our guild is hosting a challenge for the quilt show coming in October. The basis of the challenge is to celebrate America's 250th birthday and the 50th quilt show of the guild. I reviewed the official rules: 

1) The challenge entry must include recognizable amounts of red, white, blue, and gold. You can use any amount of the colors, fabrics with multiple colors, solids or prints, multiple fabrics of one or all colors, pretty much anything goes as long as all four colors are included.

Pattern pieces

2) The challenge entry can also use any other colors/fabrics in addition to the red, white, blue and gold.

3) The challenge entry must include stars and stripes - at least one star and at least one set of stripes These elements can be added to the quilt in any way, including but not limited to piecing, applique, embroidery, inking, etc.

4) The challenge entry itself can be of any shape, but the width of the quilt cannot be more than 24 inches. The entry can be any length. There is no minimum size. Entries must be quilted and finished with a hanging sleeve. Three-dimensional entries are allowed as long as the piece can be hung in the standard manner.

Gold fabric

I decided I wanted to play. I drew some thumbnail sketches. I selected a design and drew it on paper. I doodled lines on the design and considered color placement. I decided to string piece the star legs so I made foundation paper patterns. I also made a pattern for setting the star into the background.

Last month, I searched online for gold fabric and bought a quarter yard. After pulling the red strings and the blue strings from my string bag, I was ready to begin the piecing!

Strings at the ready

Goal number five on my April list was to begin my guild challenge. I've almost finished string piecing. This project will be on my monthly list until I finish it. Yet, I plan to keep the project under wraps. Instead, I'll share sneak peaks of my progress.

Linking to Finished or Not Friday and Patchwork and Quilts.

Scrappy Kaffe--A Finish!

Quilting design

This project is the back that became a front! I'm glad it did. Becoming a front meant I needed to piece a back for the challenge and a back for this project! The Gresham Senior Center longarmed it. The pantograph pattern is Botanical Blossoms.

Green binding

I used a different green for the binding as I didn't have enough left of what I had used in the front. I like the added depth of dimension the binding added.

Label

The label came from the guild free table long ago, I've been using the free table labels when I can figure out how best to use them! This time, I added the information I wanted to include around the preprinted information.

Hand stitching the sleeve

I did have to piece the sleeve as I was about two inches short of having a piece of fabric wide enough! The pieced part is next to the quilt so it appears the sleeve is all one fabric. Shhhh. . .we will keep that piecing fact between us!

Finished back

The handwork on this project was to close the corners of the binding, attach the label and sleeve. I machine stitched the binding to this project. 

Close up of quilting from front

In no time, I had another finish! This is the fourth finish of the year! It was goal number two on my April list. This project meets goal number three on my annual list. I used 11 yards of fabric in this project. I've used 30 yards of stash this month! Hooray!!!

Finished front

I have another finish to share with Finished or not Friday, Quilting and Patchwork, and Slow Stitching. Since there is a measurable amount of pink in this project which is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color this month, I'll link up with So Scrappy too.

 

Challenge Block--post 3

Goal number five on my January list was to work on my challenge blocks. This challenge was to use three Kaffe large scale prints in a quilt. There were no other rules. In my December post, I shared how I was making the blocks. 

The three Kaffe prints

Earlier this week, I finished stitching the blocks for Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Lupine and Laughter. I'd like to lay them out; but, my challenge blocks are on the design wall. It was time to make progress on this project! I cut more block parts, made more blocks until I had sewn enough to create a top. 

Friday evening I began to web the rows. I like to web my blocks; but, somehow, the blocks will twist and I end up sewing rows together in a different design than I had intended. If you web, how do you keep that from happening? After my webbing fiasco, I started sewing the bocks together two at a time, then four at a time until I had a row. Then I stitched rows together.  Of course, I made mistakes; but, perhaps today, I'll finish and have a flimsy!

Sewing the rows together

Once I figured out how, the block was simple to sew. I like how slicing the blocks tamed the large scale prints. The solid fabrics sometimes stand out more than the print fabric. The solid dark skinny strips are a purple grunge. This fabric unifies the design. The blacks play together. They look like they are having a party! The top has a modern vibe. I'm happy with my solution to the challenge!

The layout

It needs a name. Gertie, my inner squirrel, has been calling it "Dash." I teased her that she was naming it after herself because she is always dashing about the studio. She only swished her tail in response! This is an 18 block by 10 block layout. The top will be 48 by 65 inches. I'm not planning to add a border and likely will use the purple grunge as binding. I have some leftover parts, chunks and strips. I hope there are enough leftovers to create a backing; but that is a project for another day!

Linking to Oh Scrap,  Sew & Tell. and To Do Tuesday.

Challenge Block--progress post 2

The prints and a unifying fabric

One of my small groups has a challenge to use three Kaffe prints and make a quilt. There weren't more rules than that. I initially chose a purple grunge fabric to unify the three prints. I was stumped for a time about what kind of pattern I could create. 

Enlarging the palette

Then I added more solids to the group. More colors would take the eye away from two of the prints being so close together. Figuring out a design took more time. At first, I cut the fabric into 10 inch squares. I tried to create a design incorporating the unifying purple fabric that I liked. Instead, I determined what wasn't going to work for me.

Not this

While I thought I wanted to work with 10 inch squares, I decided that three fabrics when cut on the diagonal then sliced for into three sections yielded too small a corner piece. I also thought that two purple strips was too much accent.

HSTs

I thought some more about the block. Next I cut six and a half inch strips from which I cut triangles. I sewed a purple strip to the printed fabric triangle, then I sewed a solid triangle to the purple strip.

Right and left blocks

Then I trimmed the squares to seven inches. I cut the squares in half which netted me two blocks that were three and half inches by seven inches. These were the blocks that I tried the next layout. I wanted to half equal number of left hand and right hand slanted blocks.

Viewing layout options

I made a square shape with the purple line. I liked it, I laid out more blocks in this configuration. I decided that the line over powered the design. Then I tried a design that broke up the lines. I liked the flow better of the second design. 

Left blocks

I made more blocks. Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention when cutting and ended up with left slanted blocks. Luckily, I had enough fabric to cut more blocks. This time, after I trimmed, I placed two trimmed blocks next to the square so I was sure I had the correct orientation. At that point, I cut. I also placed the blocks on the design wall.

The last color way fabrics cut

I've cut the fabrics for the final round. In a few days, I'll play more with this project. I am pondering how to make the design a bit wider. I had envisioned a rectangular wall hanging; but, this is turning out to be a lap quilt. Sometimes projects determine their size and this one is speaking to make more blocks. 

Progress so far

What I thought was an original pattern is not. Gudrun Erla of GE Designs has this pattern in her Stripology Squared book. She called it Algorithm Quilt. The link is to a YouTube video that Gudrun posted nine years ago. She used 10 inch squares. I googled Algorithm Quilt and found a modification of the pattern in a YouTube video that Weyermann's Whimsey made five years ago. If I had found these links before I started, I would have shortened my journey! 

Making a sample block for this challenge was goal number ten on my December list. I exceeded that goal! Linking to Oh Scrap and Sew and Tell. To Do Tuesday.

Sourdough Bread Baking--post 3 And A Fabric Palette for Kaffe Prints--post 1

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian readers!

Goal number one on my October list was to document recipes from the Artisan Sourdough Made Simple cookbook written by Emile Raffa. This is my third post regarding recipes I've baked from that cookbook.

Soft Semolina Breadsticks with Buttery Crumbs

At the beginning of June, I made the Soft Semolina Breadsticks with Buttery Crumbs. My youngest granddaughter likes hard breadsticks. She might like these. When she comes for a visit, we will need to bake some to see what she thinks!

I baked these a few minutes too long so they weren't as soft as they should have been. The buttery crumbs are tasted panko bread crumbs with a little parmesan cheese mixed together. To get the crumbs to adhere to the breadsticks, I brushed the warms breadsticks with melted butter and then I rolled them  in the crumb mixture. This recipe was husband approved!

Crispy Sourdough Grissini

At the end of June, I made the other bread stick recipe, Crispy Sourdough Grissini, in the cookbook. From the oven, these were crisp; but, even in an airtight container, they didn't stay that way long! I would make them again; but, be sure to use them the same day that I baked them!

Roasted garlic and rosemary sourdough

Roasted garlic and rosemary were in the next loaf of bread I baked. My husband thought this was the best recipe yet.

Rolls before baking

Overnight Sourdough Bialays With Caramelized Onions and Goat Cheese was the next recipe I tried. My husband does not like goat cheese although he did eat it in these rolls. He liked the carmelized onions and gave the recipe a thumbs up.

Rolls after baking

We ate one hot from the oven. The verdict was delicious! We ate them room temperature with our dinner. The verdict was good. We froze half of the batch. When we ate a couple that had thawed in the microwave, they were just as good as eating them at room temperature. I would definitely make this recipe again. It would be easy to leave off the goat cheese for those that don't prefer it.

Salted Chocolate Caramel Knot

Salted Chocolate Caramel Knot was absolutely delicious. I had my reservations. First, I doubted that the sourdough would be light enough to be a sweet bread. (It was!) Second, I doubted that I'd be able to shape the dough as was done in the recipe.(I sort of got there!) Third, Nutella and caramel? (It was a wonderful combination!)

A slice

My sweet husband said it would be no problem to "have" to eat this recipe again! It was best fresh from the oven; but, it was still great after it was totally cool. The next day and the day after it was still good! I would definitely make this recipe again!

Raspberry Gingersnap Twist

Raspberry Gingersnap Twist was good too! We would have enjoyed it even more had I done better about following the directions. I missed adding the cinnamon and chocolate chips at the right time in the recipe. I also didn't have Raspberry jam; but, I had plum butter that I had made from my friend Wendy's fruit tree. I made homemade gingersnap cookies to crumble so there was some effort in prepping for this recipe!

A slice

This twist was easier for me to do and it looked beautiful. The lightness of this loaf wasn't as much as in the Nutella loaf. The weather was a little cooler so maybe that was part of the reason or maybe, I should have let it rise a little longer before I baked it. All good reasons to try the recipe again!

There are about 70 recipes in this cookbook. (Artisan Sourdough Made Simple)So far, I've baked about eighteen of the recipes. There are more recipes to try so I will be writing future posts!

Because this is a quilting blog. . .I will share that I settled on my palette for a challenge one of my small groups is doing. A recognizable amount of the three printed fabrics must be used. We can make any project and can add as many additional fabrics as we want. There is no size limit.

Challenge palette

I have an idea of how I want to proceed so the next step was to prewash all the fabrics. I know many people don't prewash. I do because our water contains chlorine. I don't want surprises when I wash a project! I will report that the red print bled a bit; but, the dark orange was the worst bleeder! It took two rounds with synthrapol before the water was clear! Since pre-washing fabrics is a list item I avoid, I made it goal number seven on my October list. 

Pre-washed, starched and ready to cut

I have starched the pre-washed fabrics and ironed them. I'm ready to begin cutting the fabrics. First though, I need to stitch some blocks together so the design wall is available for this project. Linking to: Oh  Scrap and Sew and Tell.