Saturday, April 4, 2009

Progress is Being Made

I haven't posted about the Double Wedding Ring Quilt lately, but progress is being made; I have finished half of the blocks. Woo-hoo! Here are 5 "A" blocks and and 5 "B" blocks:
I photographed them on my kitchen floor due to gusty winds outside on this beautiful day. Which seems to always be the case, except when it is raining. When I started blogging, I had no idea how many days of the year are unsuitable for outside photography of my sewing projects. But I know now. Thus, the inside photography. But you can see the nearest right block is still experiencing wind: that is from the refrigerator kicking on and blowing on it!

Having completed half the blocks needed for the DWRQ, I decided to take a break and work on my other goal for the year: a quilt for my bed. I already had a bunch of fat quarters, mostly from the "Freshcut" collection by Heather Bailey from Free Spirit fabrics that perfectly matched my bedroom decor. I wanted a pattern that was easy, fast, but not so simple that I would become bored. I search high and low at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show, and I considered using the Strip Gift Quilt Pattern, but in the end I used a Kaffe Fassett design from one of his books, which I believe was this one.

Kaffe Fassett's designs are good for fabric collections because they usually don't rely on contrast, so this was perfect. I can't remember the name of this quilt he designed as the pattern was so simple, I didn't even buy the book. (Sorry, Mr. Fassett.) Here are some of the blocks laid out, again, on the kitchen floor:


They aren't sewn together yet, and these aren't all the blocks. I need a bigger surface to lay them all out to make sure I have them arranged the way I like. The finished quilt will end up 88 x 88 inches, so I may have to lay down a sheet in the driveway tomorrow (if the wind would quit blowing) and arrange the blocks on it. I have no floor space in my house big enough for this quilt.

I did modify the quilt a bit so as to use fat quarters to make this quilt. For example, the middle block was supposed to be 19 1/2 inches square with a 2 inch border. My fat quarter couldn't be 19 1/2 inches square, so I cut it 17 1/2 inches and added a 3 inch border.


I also discovered that one fat quarter can make two blocks: 1 "A" block and 1 "B" block (the ones with the border). So I needed 31 fat quarters to make this quilt, plus some yardage for the border for the big block, which I will also use for the binding. Good news about this quilt top: no big borders! Just the big block, the "A" blocks, and the "B" blocks. All I have left to do is arrange the blocks, sew them into rows, sew the rows together, and get it to the machine quilter. I plan on asking for heavy quilting on this quilt: the pattern is so easy and basic that you need interesting quilting to make it attractive. Can't wait to get this on the bed!

Parting Shot: Darned refrigerator kept blowing on my blocks!

4 comments:

Claire S. said...

The double wedding ring looks like ALOT of work !

The colors in the second one would suit my bedroom too and I really like the squares. They're both going to look great when finished. Good luck with the wind :-)

Vicki W said...

You have been busy today! So have we. Anne has worn me out. I think she bought about 20 things to dye!We're watching the basketball game now and she loved seeing the blocks you made today! It's locming along beautifully. I also love your new quilt. It's going to look great.

gwensews said...

Your quilts will be beautiful. I made the wedding ring many years ago--all black and white. I like that yours has a touch of red. Mine was a double bed quilt, pieced and quilted by hand. Way much work!

Good luck on your quilts. Making them is very satisfying.

YankeeQuilter said...

Both projects look great...and how different from one another! KF's patterns are really good for the large prints like the ones you are using. Here is hoping the wind dies down...