#29 Tumbling Blocks

#29: Tumbling Blocks
Finished: 7/22/12
Techniques: Y-seams, Metallic thread, Invisible thread, Stitch in the ditch
Size: 26" x 25 1/2"

Description: I like the tumbling block design because of its three dimensional illusion, but I've never tried to create them before now. Traditionally they are pieced using what's known as a Y-seam. Where the three colors meet, you see a "Y". I found the Y-seams to be a little tricky but not too bad. Some of them came out really well - perfectly pointed! - but others were off a bit.  There is a way to create the design using straight seams, but this creates a line through some of the diamond shapes which I find distracting. However, if I had used a busier pattern for the fabrics, it may have gone unnoticed.

The outer border was actually my inspiration for this mini-quilt. It was fabric I picked up, I believe, at an ARC thrift store some time ago. I used fabric from my stash to correspond to the blue, yellow, and reddish orange in the border print to create the large tumbling blocks. The solid blue inner border was added because I felt the eye needed a resting place before adding the outer border. When sewing on the outer border, I oriented the fabric to correspond to the larger tumbling blocks. This meant that I had to cut some of the fabric cross-wise and some lengthwise, but I'm glad I did it that way.

I haven't used metallic thread much in the past, because I found it difficult to work with. But here was a perfect opportunity to try it again. In the border fabric, the little tumbling blocks are surrounded by metallic gold lines. When I tried simulating those gold lines with metallic thread, I was using old metallic thread that jammed up right away. Then I switched to an unused spool of gold metallic thread that I had bought years ago but never used. It worked very well, so the lesson I learned is to use good new metallic thread in the future.

It doesn't look too bad in the picture, but some of my stitching in the ditch was not evenly applied.

Using a multi-colored print fabric as your focus fabric and then choosing other fabrics that match and blend with it is a good way of designing and choosing fabrics for a quilt. I've used this technique in the past for full-sized quilts.

I put the picture in extra large, because this is the largest mini-quilt I've done to date.

#27 Pinwheel Fireworks

#27: Pinwheel Fireworks
Finished: 7/8/12
Techniques: Paper-piecing, Mitered borders, Invisible thread, Pinwheel design
Size: 16 1/2 x 16 1/2"

I'm pleased to say I'm back on track with the mini-quilts! This one was finished on time in its entirety.

I wanted to do something in red, white, and blue to commemorate the fourth of July celebration. This is a design modified slightly from Carol Doak's "365 Foundation Quilt Blocks," which I own. In the book, the design for July 4th was too simple. This is actually the design for July 26; a little more intricate, but one that I could enlarge and sketch out easily onto foundation paper. I liked it because the pinwheel design reminded me of fireworks.

Fireworks have been banned in the city for a number of years now, but in years previously, one would always hear the occasional one go off. I am proud and impressed that I heard NO fireworks go off this year! The recent wildfire must have made a big impression on people who would normally ignore the rules.

I had a variety of star fabrics in blue and red and the red striped fabric all seemed appropriate for the design. The white is a tone-on tone leaf design because I didn't have any white with stars. With the stripe, I felt that a mitered border would be better than overlapping borders. I am really pleased with the way the miter came out. I find that mitered borders are pretty easy to do. The paper-piecing was easy too, although I had some trouble when adding the border. The point at the top of the pinwheel is sharp, but, even though I was trying to be careful, the other points were blunted when I added the border. I think it might have happened when I was squaring up the paper-pieced portion before adding the border. I may not have left the proper amount of seam allowance. A quarter inch can be very small at time.

Quilting was done with invisible thread, which I've never enjoyed working with. It seems to me that when one used invisible thread, it always appears that the fabric has holes in it. However, with the thinness of the quilt batting, I was able to use a small enough needle so that the hole effect was minimized.

The red stripe fabric gives the optical illusion of movement if you stare at it too long. How appropriate for this spinning pinwheel fireworks display. I hope you enjoy this.