The Carpenter's Daughter Who Quilts

Category: Pattern Testing

Puppy Stars (Sea Stars Pattern Test Update)

Hi, I am sharing an update on my pattern testing of Sea Stars by Meadow Mist Designs (my quilt version called Puppy Stars at the moment).

I love, love the design of this quilt pattern. But I have had some user errors/difficulties and it has taken me way longer to get this top finished than it should have. It was the squaring up of all my half square triangles. I tried the technique of trimming before final pressing and I thought my blocks were the correct size but they were just shy of a 1/4 inch too small. I had to rework and resize my half square triangles. I am back on track this week and have 8 of my 16 blocks completed.

Puppy Stars

I am hoping to get my last 8 blocks laid out and sewn up this weekend. I thought by having 8 different solids to place around my blocks that it would be easy to get a good mix. I think the pattern was to be more random in the placement of the hsts around the plus block than what I may have them, but I think it still works out nicely this way. I am just trying to not place a cluster of the same color combinations all in one area.

I am glad to see my piles of half square triangles getting smaller. When I start sewing and creating the massive amounts of hsts for the baby WoW-E quilt that is the companion to this quilt, I will be sticking with the press open and then square up technique.

I did not get a Fresh Sewing post made for the first of June. I did not make much progress on May’s projects other than getting the flimsy made for Mod Gears and it’s backing. My plan for June is to get this Sea Stars test quilt completed, and get my other two test quilts (Grande Scrappy Tiles and Plus Plus) quilted as well. All these patterns will be coming available later in the month. I think the blog hop over at Meadow Mist Designs is June 17th or close by so I have my work cut out for me. It does not take that long to baste the quilts. It’s deciding how to quilt them that takes the longest for me sometimes.

I have joined the 2015 New Bloggers Blog Hop this month. There is a nice group of close to 70 “newish” bloggers who have been blogging for less than 2 years. We get help from 4 bloggers (Quilting Jetgirl, Late Night Quilter, Meadow Mist Designs, and Childlike Fascination) from last year’s New Bloggers group. We will be working with each other and critiquing each other blogs and learning ways to make possible improvements to it. It is a great way to make new quilting friends and mentors.

This week I will be starting to participate in the Midnight Mystery Quiltalong over at Meadow Mist Designs. I am deciding on what colors to use and will be digging and pulling fabrics from my stash for this project. It goes from June 2015 to March 2016. Quite a few of the gals from the New Bloggers group are also participating in the mystery quiltalong so that should add the fun to it and it is another way to get to know each other.

I will be linking up my post with Crazy Mom’s Quilts, Can I get a Whoop Whoop? and Prairie Sewn Studios Crafty Comment Karma linky party.

Thanks for stopping by and hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Happy Sewing,

Shelley

June 5, 2015
Friday Projects Update

Hi, I hope everyone has had a good week. I thought I would share a Friday Projects Update.

I have been slowly but surely working away on my half square triangles for my Sea Stars quilt pattern testing. I should put the emphasis on slowly. The sewing part is no problem, it is getting them all pressed and squared up that is so time-consuming.

(The pile of trimmings make pretty confetti. See my pretty new rotary cutter. Zebra striped. )

I have tried a couple different techniques for squaring up the half square triangles. One is to press open first and then square up on all four sides, if needed. Then I tried where you trim before pressing open and it trims off the little ears in one swoop. I am not going to say yet, which one was better for me.

Has anyone tried this specialty ruler for creating Half Square Triangles? It’s by June Tailor and there is a video online how to use it. I bought it with a 40% off coupon at JoAnn’s. I have been using the 4 1/2 inch square ruler with pink Post-It tabs taped to where I need to cut my HSTs. I used the full size on the Mod Gears quilt blocks, and will move it smaller and smaller to make the sizes need for Sea Stars and WoW-E quilt blocks.

I always like to have a non quilting sewing project to work on for some down time. I have been wanting a new purse to carry and I like the cross body styles of bags as they cause less stress on my shoulders.

I am looking at Noodlehead’s Trail Tote or Swoon’s Ramona Mini Hipster bag. They both are free patterns that you can download. The Trail Tote closes with a magnet, and Ramona closes with a recessed zipper. I really am more comfortable using a zippered purse. So I am thinking of applying the recessed zipper technique to the Trail Tote???

I love this text and postage stamp canvas print. It has ridges or ripples in it. It is a remnant left of the fabric my Mom made a purse out of. It was the purse she carried up until the day she passed away in June 2013.

This is a very intricate machine embroidery of the Eiffel Tower that my Mom made as a sample. It is on a piece of white cotton that measures 6 by 11 inches, and the embroidery is 2 by 5 inches. I have had this set aside for something special and thought I could use it on an inside pocket of a purse so I would have a daily reminder of my Mom with me.

I have also come across another free pattern for an awesome tote bag that I would like to make. It is the Day At the Beach Bag with Rope Handles at Sew 4 Home website.

These are two gorgeous quality canvas fabrics that were some of the last fabrics I knew my Mom purchased. She had purchased them online. My Mom loved to make all kinds of bags and purses. And she loved France and everything French. It was her dream to travel to France. I took three years of French classes in high school many moons ago. It has not been used much after marrying into a German speaking family. lol

I have numerous bag making supplies. I have some painters canvas tarp material left over from other projects that can be used for the plain top portions of the Day at the Beach bags. I all ready have grommets and roping in the supplies as well, so it is a sign that I need to make these bags.

Hope all the Moms had a wonderful Mother’s Day. I had a great day with my husband and kids. My kids went all together with my husband and got me a new camera for Mother’s Day. I have not had a chance to truly play with it yet this week. It’s Wi-Fi enabled so it is supposed to upload my photos to my email or possibly Facebook accounts.

It is a Samsung WB380F camera. It has white simulated leather finish, so it should be interesting to keep it clean??

I hope to make some more progress sewing up all the blocks and pieces to make Sea Stars and Mod Gears quilt tops this weekend. I have not touched WoW-E yet, other than cut out all the pieces and bag them up in a ziploc. I am redressing which way I want to make my HSTs since the little ones in WoW-E finish at 1.5 inches (you want them accurate on the first try.)

I will be linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.

Have a great weekend.

Happy Sewing,

Shelley

May 15, 2015
HST Progress (2 out of 3 quilts)

Hi, I thought I would give a quick update on the progress I have made on working on my 3 kid size quilts that have the half square triangle palooza going on with their creation. I have sample blocks created for two of three quilts (Sea Stars and Mod Gears). I have all the HSTs made for Mod Gears and Sea Stars is still in production.

I am making HSTs in 8 bright colors for the Sea Stars quilt which is being pattern tested for Meadow Mist Designs.

I have 4 different focus prints that I will be making the plus blocks from and I plan on mixing up the 8 potential HST colors amongst the prints to get a good mix for each block.

I have all the HSTs made for Mod Gears, but only have 4 out of 16 blocks sewn up. I did not make any additional progress on this quilt top this week yet.

It has been a very somber week at our house as we had to make the decision on Monday to have our beloved Australian Shepherd Mattie to sleep. She was 15 years old and had cancer. I have had numerous dogs in my lifetime but this is the first one that I had to experience this with. It is not a good feeling and we know our 10 year old Black Lab, Abbey is noticing that Mattie is missing. Mattie was my husband’s dog and he has taken this extremely hard. We will leave it up to him to say when he is ready to get another dog. We got Mattie three weeks after our first dog, Freddie passed away.

On a happier note, I would like to remind everyone that I am participating in Sew Mama Sew’s Giveaway Day this week. The contest is open til Sunday May 1oth evening, and the winner will be drawn by the morning of May 12th.

I am giving away three charm packs of fabric and the winner’s choice of 3 of Meadow Mist Design’s patterns (pdfs).

Thank you all for stopping by and I hope all the Moms out there have a great Mother’s Day weekend.

Happy Sewing,

Shelley

May 8, 2015
HST Palooza: 3 Baby Quilts at once

Hi, I am sharing my newest works in progress this week. I am pulling fabrics for 3 baby or kid size quilts. If you are a regular follower, you would know that I am known for making larger quilts when ever possible. I am working on making three special smaller quilts.

I am pattern testing Sea Stars by Meadow Mist Designs and will be making the lap size quilt as my test quilt. It is supposed to finish off at 60 inches square. The blocks finish off at 15 inches and there are lots and lots of half square triangles. I think 192 in this particular quilt size. This will be for a 2 year old girl cousin.

I pulled a set of 5 fat quarters from my stash that I have had since before my 3 year old grandson was born. I purchased some girl and boy fabrics before we knew what the baby was going to be. Our family has 8 boys in a row from 2 months old to 17 years old. It will be fun to play with girly colors for once. I picked my favorite 4 of the five fat quarters. The missing print was an orange with white flowers and it was not bold enough to go with the rest of my fabrics. I found the eight bright solids at our Walmart. They brought fabrics back last year and these fabrics are from Waverly. I was very pleasantly surprised on the quality of these new fabrics. They are $2.97 a yard and I purchased a half yard of each and cut in half to make two fat quarters as I am making a coordinating quilt with the other half pieces.

I am going to make a coordinating WoW-E quilt which is a pattern by Lorna McMahon of Sew Fresh Quilts. This version of the quilt is supposed to finish off at around 41 inches by 52 inches. This quilt takes upwards of 320 half square triangles and half of them are quite tiny. This should be a cute coordinating quilt to go to the 8 month old sister of the 2 year old recipient of the Sea Stars quilt.

To balance out all the girly cuteness, I am making a Mod Gears quilt by Elizabeth Dackson at Don’t Call Me Betsy. This is a really cool modern take on the churn dash and adds a plus block center. I thought it would be great for a special little boy, whose both parents like Harley Davidson motorcycles. There will gray and black gears with the orange and red plus centers. There is 64 half square triangles in this quilt, which is the least of the three quilts and also the largest triangles to make. I am making the throw size quilt which supposed to finish off at 56.5 inches square. This quilt divides up the needed plus blocks between two colors and adds one accent plus. I had the idea to add one Harley print plus block, but I was not able to find any fabrics that were Harley related in my area. I looked on Ebay and a single fat quarter of Harley fabric was going from $13. to $22.00 a piece, so I decided to just use an even amount of red and orange blocks. I purchased enough fabric that I am going to incorporate the little boy’s name on the back of the quilt.

So you can see that I will be really busy sewing and creating half square triangles in numerous sizes and in abundance for my three smaller quilts. Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs wanted the quilt patterns tests turned in by June 17th so I will be starting on the Sea Stars first. I have finished off two other pattern test quilts for her this month, Plus Plus and Grande Scrappy Tiles. I am working on creating backs for both quilts.

I am participating in Sew Mama Sew’s May Giveaway Day during the week of May 6-10th. I am giving away some fabric and patterns so be sure to come back and enter the contest.

I am off to sharpen some pencils and sit with a ruler and mark off the diagonal lines for my half square triangle palooza.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Sewing,

Shelley

April 30, 2015
The Cowboy Way: Grande Scrappy Tiles Flimsy Finish

Hi, I am excited to share today my finished quilt top made from Grande Scrappy Tiles that I am pattern testing for Meadow Mist Designs. I completed it before midnight, so that still counts as a Friday Finish, right? (Hard to take photos that late, if someone is sleeping in the bed. lol)

This is made with 30 different prints from stripes, plaids to cowboys, horses and boots. I was worried about combining all of them together, but I think they all mesh together nicely. Nice flow of color as well. I like it the pattern so much, that I can see it in possible patriotic prints which I have a ton of or all different plaids as I have a ton of homespuns. Some of the focus prints are upside down or sideways, but that is just the nature of the block. This quilt is just One Block and you flip it this way and that. I would think about cutting certain prints differently, if it was important that they be upright. The pattern uses fat quarters or 1/4 yard cuts. I used both, so it make it just a little more tricky cutting out. But Cheryl has a great chart telling you exactly how many of each block segment you need. So you can cut this top easy from your scraps and stash of fabrics.

This is a twin top on a king size bed. It is 72 inches by 96 inches.

Turned sideways on bed. There are so many of my old favorite fabrics in this quilt. I can not wait to start quilting on it. I am hoping to draw out a plaid type quilting on it. Use the arm extension on the walking foot and painters tape?? I have to figure out what to use on the backing. I still have lots of the same scraps. My daughter wants to save back the black background cowboy face print as we have had that set aside to use as lining in a leather purse we are designing to make.

I love this cowboy print and Mr. PoleCat is in the center of the block. He is my favorite. It makes me think of Doc Holliday.

I also love the cowboy boot print fabric. I had to use this fabric in the quilt. My daughter loves her cowboy boots. She has 7 pairs of Tony Lamas.

It is fitting to get this top completed this week as my daughter starts her internship at the horse farm on Monday.

I will be linking up this finish with Crazy Mom’s Quilts, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, TGIFF, Oh Scrap and Prairie Sewn Studios Craft Comment Karma and Scraptastic Tuesday.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Sewing,

Shelley

April 25, 2015
Plus Plus Flimsy: Fri. Finish

Hi, It’s Friday and I have a Friday Finish to share. I have finished putting together my queen size Plus Plus top that I pattern tested for Meadow Mist Designs.

I have never been more happy to see all 121 blocks finally come together. I really like how it turned out.

This is a queen size top on a king size bed. It is 99 inches square. It covers the bed from pillows to floor, and almost covers both sides of entire mattress. (One more row of blocks or a 6 inch border strip added to both length sides would finish off the size of top we like on the bed, but this will work nicely as well. )

There just is not enough room in our bedroom to get the whole bed in the photo from this angle. I was standing in the closet, maybe next time will push the clothes aside and go further back and it will finally get the full bed in the photos.

I tried turning the quilt top around the other direction of bed to see if that would work better??

I plan to use the accent plus’ fabric (Amy Butler’s Midwest Modern) as an accent stripe to back of the quilt. I am also looking at quilting it in an allover checkerboard grid which will call for adding the spacer arm to the walking foot.

The Plus Plus quilt pattern is two complete patterns in one. Today, Cheryl is showing her versions on her blog, Meadow Mist Designs. She is today’s stop on RJR Fabrics What Shade are you? blog hop. Cheryl is having an introductory sale on the Plus Plus pattern on her Craftsy and Etsy pattern pages for $6.00 til May 3rd. Be sure to go check out her posts as her two Plus Plus quilts turned out so awesome!

I will be linking up my Friday Finish with Crazy Mom Quilts, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, TGIFF and Prairie Sewn Studios’ Crafting Comment Karma.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Sewing and Have a great weekend,

Shelley

April 24, 2015
Grande Scrappy Tiles/Plus Plus Testing Updates

Hi, I would like to share my progress on pattern testing Grande Scrappy Tiles and Plus Plus for Meadow Mist Designs.

I got all my fabric pull for Grande Scrappy Tiles all pressed and cut today. I have decided to make the twin size version instead of a queen size. Grande Scrappy Tiles makes 24 inch blocks so you only need 12 for a twin or 16 blocks for a queen size quilt. The blocks can be easily cut from fat quarters or regular 1/4 yards. All my fabrics were from my stash and I had a good mix of fat quarters and 1/4 yd pieces. By having both, it made just a bit more work for me, to try and keep track of how many of which block I was cutting. The pattern has good chart diagrams to work from.

This is a sample block that I have laid out. I ended up adding a couple more prints. A white background horse print same as the black one, a green cross hatched print, an all over cowboy boot print on a green background and a cream with green/blue plaid. I think this took me up to 31 different prints.

Here is a second possible sample block. By having so many prints I am going to have to take extra time to swap them out to get a good overall mix in each block. There is only one style of block to make for this quilt and it just gets turned around in various ways to make the quilt top.

My big pile of fabric is all cut up into the various squares and rectangles. (I may need to add a couple more larger squares of my cowboy focus fabric to the mix.)

I spent a good portion of this week sewing the blocks for my Plus Plus quilt top. I have all 60 of the large pluses made, and am down to adding the last leg or pieced side to the small plus blocks. 50 out of the 60 need their last side.

I purchased a neat tool last night. It is a plastic wall paper seam roller. It is quite helpful in hand pressing or rolling the seams open on quilt blocks. I had looked for one of these rollers when I did my big paper piecing quilt project last year. I know they used to have a wooden roller but this one is plastic. It was only $1.98 at the home improvement store. It was quite helpful with the smaller plus blocks, making for less trips to the ironing board. I will give the blocks a final actual press when they are completed.

I hope to finish up my plus blocks this weekend and start assembling the 121 blocks into their top. I am thinking this quilt might be for our guest bedroom.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I will be linking up with Crazy Mom’s Quilts and Prairie Sewn Studios Comment Karma.

Happy Sewing,

Shelley

April 17, 2015
Plus Plus: Tuesday Update

Hi, I thought I would give an update on how I am coming along with my pattern testing for Meadow Mist Designs’ Plus Plus quilt design. I did not get to sew much over the weekend, as we had company visiting. I have finished all the strip piecing and am ready to start chain piecing the rest of my 121 blocks. I have two versions of the accent block made.

Here is version 1 with a lighter, brighter accent plus made from Amy Butler’s Midwest Modern Garden Maze in Mustard.

This is version 2 made with the golden, mustard accent plus made from the same Amy Butler’s Midwest Modern Garden Maze. Which version do you all, like better??

I think I am kind of partial to the lighter one? The pattern calls for 60 of the large pluses, 60 of the small pluses and the one accent block. The Plus Plus pattern will include a scrappy version and a two tone with one accent block version of this quilt. There are separate cutting instructions for the two versions and can be made in three sizes, baby, lap and queen size. The pattern should be released for purchase in the next week or so on Meadow Mist Design’s Etsy and Craftsy pages.

This is what I created with all my strip piecing. I have 6 out of 60 of the large pluses made, and 13 out of 60 of the smaller pluses made. So I have quite a bit of sewing yet before the top is created.

I will be linking up my WIP with Fabric Tuesday, Freshly Pieced’s WIP Wednesday, Let’s Bee Social and other midweek linky parties.

Thank you for stopping by.

Happy Sewing,
Shelley

April 14, 2015
New Quilt Fabric Pull

Hi, I am sharing my start for a new quilt. This is another quilt pattern that I am testing for Meadow Mist Designs. It is a super sized version of her Scrappy Tiles. Cheryl will be sharing more about her new pattern and her test quilt that she is making in the upcoming weeks. The quilt blocks on this new super sized design are so big that you only need 16 of them for a Queen sized quilt. How cool is that ?!! There is lots of room for lots of fun fabric choices.

I am sharing what I have started to pull for fabrics for my version of this quilt. I am trying a scrappy western themed for my daughter who is in college for Veterinary Tech and is possibly interning at a horse ranch this summer.

I have dug way down in to the archives of my fabric stash for some of these fabrics. Lots of old favorites. I have around 27 prints besides the main focus fabric.

This is an Alexander Henry print. I love, love Alexander Henry and he makes some of the best cowboy prints. This one has a copyright of 1997 on it, but I am sure I have not had it that long. Maybe it was reissued?? Is that possible?? This is extra cool with the cowboy’s names under the headshots. Pole Cat, Tex, Slim, El Ray and Luke. Pole Cat is my favorite.

Not sure if the horse print might not also be Alexander Henry? The three centered black star prints are back from my earliest quilting and primitive doll making. The upper most one is a Debbie Mumm fabric. The last fabric is a black blender from my Father Inlaw’s Warm Wishes train logo quilt.

I love all things blue. I have lots of plaids in my stash. (again from primitive dolls) There are two shades of blue blenders in the center, a neat blue sky cloud print and a soft blue pillow ticking stripe.

The main red fabric print is called Barn Dance and it has the neatest black ink drawings of old barns on it. It is a classic Country Threads fabric. Country Threads is from my home state of Iowa, the quilt shop in a chicken coop. A couple more plaids and a red blender that is from my Father inlaw’s Warm Wishes train logo quilt as well.

Here is a green plaid and green ticking stripe that have been around for awhile. I have multiple yards of the blue plaid and think it might end up as backing for this quilt in some fashion. It is made by Marcus Brothers.

This new pattern is fat quarter or 1/4 yard friendly. A single pieced block will measure out to 24 inches square. This will make for lots of room for all sorts of quilting detail. I am highly thinking of stitching out an overall plaid striped design to carry my western themed for this quilt.

I hope to get to start cutting out some of my needed fabrics for this quilt in the upcoming days. This will be after I get further along in my piecing of all the blocks for my pattern test of Plus Plus.

I will be linking up my post with Let’s Bee Social, Crazy Mom’s Quilts, Oh Scrap, and Prairie Sewn Studios Comment Karma linky parties.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Happy Sewing,
Shelley

April 10, 2015
Pattern Testing: Plus Plus WIP

Hi, I have started a new quilt project this week. I am pattern testing a new quilt design for my good friend, Cheryl Brickey who is Meadow Mist Designs. The quilt design is called Plus Plus and the quilt pattern includes two complete designs in one. One version of the quilt can be made scrappy in multiple different solids and the other version is two toned with a single accent plus block. The quilt will be able to made in three sizes from baby, throw to queen size. I am of course working on making up a queen sized quilt (I always test the bigger sized quilts) and I have chosen to make the two toned version of the quilt. Cheryl will be offering this new pattern for sale on her Etsy and Craftsy pattern pages in the upcoming weeks.

(And I texted Cheryl this photo tonight with the caption 9 Blocks out of 121…OMG….) Yes, there are 121 blocks in the queen size version of this quilt. I am going to be making blocks for days… I am using a chocolate brown solid for background and my gold yellow grunge that I used in my Eagles Crossing quilt I made in February for Uncle Max. I had a little over 5 inches to spare from what I had left in yardage of the Grunge.

Cheryl’s pattern always have great instructions and cutting information charts. I am thinking of fussy cutting my one large accent plus from the Amy Butler Modern Midwestern fabric I purchased to use as backing for this quilt. Cheryl sent me a photo of her design a couple months back and I started working on what I thought I might like to make the quilt out of. I had originally thought of using a creamy batik as the pluses but it did not have enough contrast and I did not have enough to make all my blocks. The gold yellow grunge was more than enough fabric, so that appeared to be a sign to use it in this quilt.

Using brown as a background color is a little out of my comfort zone, but I think it should make a striking quilt.

It seems strange for me to look at this photo and think that those strips and squares are going to make 121 blocks, but they will with lots of chain piecing. This is the kind of quilting I like.

I have another quilt project in the works. I am pulling fabrics to test another quilt pattern for Cheryl. I have dug through all my fabric stash and pulled all sorts of fun prints to coordinate with one fun focus print to make a western themed quilt for my daughter. I need quilt batting yet so I can baste my son’s quilt top that I blogged about last week that I pulled from storage.

I will be linking up with various weekly linky parties like Needle and Thread Thursday, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Let’s Bee Social, Crazy Mom’s Quilts and Prairie Sewn Studios Crafting Comment Karma LinkUp.

Thanks for stopping by,

Happy Sewing,
Shelley

April 9, 2015