17 years!

August marks 17 years of this blog.
I am glad to have this record of my life.

Scrolling to the early posts, I find it interesting that there is a consistency to my quiltmaking. There is growth, learning, refinement, but there is also a sense of this person 17 years ago is the same person making quilts today.

I also enjoy seeing our children grow up on these pages. I've tried to protect their privacy in those posts. They have expressed how they like reading these memories too.

Thank you for reading my thoughts!
Lynn Dykstra

summer horizon, top completed

Summer horizon
95 by 81 inches
180 blocks set into 10 rows of 18
Block finishes 9 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches

While I was cutting for my summer quilt with the triangles in the corners, I also cut pieces to make another horizon quilt featuring those same low volume fabrics; a sister quilt.

Again I love the summer feel to it and plan to have it densely quilted with a cotton batt. And I am thinking either Kona Peony or Kona Prairie Sky binding for both of these summer quilts.

Directions for the block are here:
https://kleinmeisjequilts.blogspot.com/2021/05/horizon.html

Here is what my first quilt looks like:
https://kleinmeisjequilts.blogspot.com/2022/04/horizon-quilt-completed.html

I have a batik version of this quilt being cut here behind the scenes.
It is a popular quilt--many have written to me with delightful interpretations of it.

My design. Use at your pleasure.

red and white quilt: stars with checkerboard, top completed

Red and white quilt: stars with checkerboard
94 by 74 inches

The fabric used in the light squares of the star is from my mother's sewing in the 1960s

One of my goals in planning a quilt is to have all seams nest with no twisting. But sometimes that doesn't work out and I am ok with that--I call the flipped seams "twisted sisters". This quilt mostly nests flat, but there are a number of twisted sisters. Maybe with extra planning I could have eliminated them, but I did not take the time to figure that out.

When Joanna S. Rose had her fabulous 2011 red and white Infinite Variety quilt show at the Armory,  I thought I would like to make a red and white quilt every year. The only large one I have made is my Red Cross (pieced before her show).
Well over a decade later, I finally decided it was time for a red and white quilt.
And in the process, cut parts for two other red and white quilts while I had the reds at the cutting table. Those will be at the ready for pick up sewing.

I had quite a few reds on my shelves, friends gave me more from their shelves, and I did a bit of shopping. There are about 60 different reds used for the 48 stars and hundreds of different reds in the checkerboards.
The white is Kona Snow. I went through 3 yards pretty quickly so I bought a 9 yard bolt for this and future projects.

I first intended to make different sizes of stars, but fell in love with the 8 inch ones. They show off the great prints. I had just made checkerboard for the most recent alphabet quilt and decided to scale down to 1 inch finished checkerboard.
This used up a great number of 1 1/2 inch red squares from my bins. I also cut down many from the 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inch rectangles bin to add to the variety.
I intended a triangle boarder but it was too much. Instead I added an extra row of checkerboard to the outside and ended with a 4 1/2 inch cut white border.
I plan to bind with white.

I did not plan ahead how many 4-patches I would need for the checkerboard. I just kept making 4-patches, sewing them into sashings, then making more. Each time I would make a pile thinking this would surely be enough, and it wasn't. Toward the end I was anticipating having a huge pile of leftovers and making something else with them. When I made the final sashing, ONE 4-patch remained unused.

No real directions, but the basics are:
8 inch finished stars
1 inch finished checkerboard
4 1/2 inch cut plain borders
I found it best to sew with the star on top at every step of assembly.

My design--use at your pleasure.

Had just enough of that fabulous floral for the center and a bit remaining that went into the checkerboard

Mustard!

That jump rope fabric of Latifah Saafir is one of my favorites. Because it leans orange, I made several other red-oranges to put near it to help it blend in.

alphabet medallion (alphabet F), top completed. Primitive Gatherings letters (adapted), my set

Alphabet Medallion 
about 67 inches square

Letters are based on Primitive Gatherings Mini Alphabet Quilt by Lisa Bongean.
https://www.primitivegatherings.us/mini-alphabet-quilt

I made major changes in construction and used larger backgrounds to the outsides of the blocks so my blocks finish 7 by 8 inches. (7 1/2 by 8 1/2 unfinished)
I used Doug Leko's Simple Folded Corners tool to achieve simplified construction versions of the letters.
https://antlerquiltdesign.com/collections/notions/products/mini-simple-folded-corners-ruler

I design medallion quilts as I go, thinking ahead one step as I work on a section.

I cut sashings 1 1/2 inches and made the odd log cabin style blocks (finished 8 by 9 inches) for the corners, leaving sashings and cornerstones off the log cabins. This completed the blocks part of the medallion. It is a bit wider than it is long.
At this point it measured finished 49 inches wide and 46 inches long. (I think...)

I prefer quilts to be either square or longer than they are wide, so decided to make a checkerboard 3 squares wide on the sides and 4 squares wide on the top and bottom, with the squares cut 2 inches, finishing 1 1/2 inches.
To make the math work, I added a 1 1/2 inch cut striped spacer border around the letters.
At this point it was 51 inches wide and 48 inches long. (again, not positive on the numbers)
After the checkerboard I sketched out additional intricate borders, but they seemed to distract from the alphabet, so I added a simple striped border, cut 4 inches.
It then finishes up about 67 inches square.

I am happy with it! I started it in December and set it aside while the Spring semester took my brain. 
All the fabric was on my shelves except for the stripe. Lots of favorites from decades of purchases. Some bits from a trip to Japan in 1989 were all used up.
I may cut the stripe on the bias for the binding.

This is my 6th (F) alphabet. The 7th (G) is being planned on paper--watch for a red and white alphabet over the next months! And the 8th (H) is also planned.

The setting is mine--use at your pleasure.

summer quilt--top completed--a pattern by Allison Jensen

Summer quilt
94 1/2 by 81 inches
378 blocks

Adapted from delightful pattern of Allison Jensen of Woodberry Way.
Here is her blog post about it:
https://www.woodberryway.com/2021/08/i-spy-quilt-with-low-volume-fabrics.html
Here is her free printable pattern:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OF1vCuMdZ6L-XJ1SANwB4FvkPFXksQIM/view


I made it two blocks wider and two rows longer than Allison's.
And instead of her size for the corner triangles, I used 2 inch squares straight from by solids bin. I used Doug Leko's Simple folded corner ruler--love that thing.
https://antlerquiltdesign.com/collections/notions/products/mini-simple-folded-corners-ruler

My small group and I exchanged the lights, so the variety was pushed by what others thought were low volume. Some are not using their indoor voices!
I was amazed how many fabrics were on my shelves that fit these low volume parameters. Really fun revisiting fabrics from over the years. Some of my mom's fabrics made it in here too.

The quilt makes me cooler just looking at it.
I plan to have it densely quilted and use Kona Peony for the binding.

DOT dot DOT, top completed

DOT dot DOT
95 by 74 inches
111 blocks set on point

Block finishes 7 1.2 inches

Block directions are here:
https://kleinmeisjequilts.blogspot.com/2022/07/dot-dot-dot-block-directions.html

My design. Use at your pleasure.

DOT dot DOT, block construction

DOT dot DOT

Block finishes 7 1/2 inches

I liked my double 4-patch and the puss-in-two-corners quilts with a chain effect and wanted to try a design with a horizontal feel.
https://kleinmeisjequilts.blogspot.com/2017/03/double-four-patch.html 

https://kleinmeisjequilts.blogspot.com/2019/05/puss-in-two-corners-top-completed.html

Several years ago I was playing with a simplified Eye of Horus type block in my sketch book and this was one that seemed to fit for this goal.
The proportions could be altered for a smaller block.

Cutting:
Solid: two squares 3 1/2 inches, one square 2 inches
Print: two rectangles 3 1/2 by 5 inches, two rectangles 2 by 3 1/2 inches

Sewing and pressing:
Sew large square to ends of each large rectangle, pressing to the solid
Sew small square in the middle of two small rectangles, pressing to the solid

Sew the three sections together, pressing the final seams in one direction.

Sew two blocks together*, with the top block seams going down and bottom block seams going up. Do not press the connecting seam yet.

*Don't sew all the blocks into pairs. You will need some singles in the layout.
BUT, in sewing a good number of them in pairs, layout will be much simpler as you are able to not worry about orientation of the seams--they will all be correct if they are in pairs. Then you only have to pay attention to the orientation of the single blocks at final layout.
My plan is for 111 blocks set on point, with about 15 singles needed, so I'll keep 20-25 unpaired.

I am also cutting my setting triangles.
I like to over-cut these so the blocks float. These are cut 9 inches on the short sides, with the a bit over 12 inches hypotenuse along the straight of grain.
After I know where they are going in the layout I trim one of those 9 inch sides to 8 inches so it is eased onto the block at just the right length. Don't trim it til ready to sew onto the block so you trim the correct side.

With on point quilts I like to save my directional fabrics for the setting triangles.
Also will need four corner half square triangles about 7 inches to be trimmed after placing. 

My design. Use at your pleasure.

Irish chain, top completed

 Irish Chain

90 by 90 inches

100 blocks (50 A blocks, 50 B blocks) made into 25 four-block units.
Block finishes 9 inches.
Four-block unit measure 18 inches

Block and Four-block units direction are located here:
https://kleinmeisjequilts.blogspot.com/2022/06/irish-chain-block-construction.html

Top construction
Lay out 5 four-block units. Sew together into a row, wait to press the joining seams.

Make 5 rows.
Lay them out and press odd row unit joining seams to the left, even row unit joining seams to the right.

Sew together those rows and all seams will nest! 
Just 4 long seams with this construction plan. 

My design directions, use at your pleasure.

Irish chain, block construction

Block finishes 9 inches
Four-block units finishes 18 inches

Irish chain works easiest with even numbered rows and columns, so I plan to make it 10 by 10 (100 blocks) to be 90 inches square. 
There will be 50 Block A and 50 Block B.

Could also make it 8 by 8 (64 blocks) to land at 72 inches square, or 8 by 10 (80 blocks) to be 90 by 72 inches, 
ALSO, can be made with odd number blocks if you want an asymmetrical quilt. I like this arrangement when there is less going on than my multi-fabric quilts.

Directions here are for an X being prominent in the blocks. An O can be prominent by changing the orientation of the block units. See examples below.

Note: this isn't a true Irish chain as the chains butt up against each other. I'm ok with this!

For each block (100 total)
Solid: Ten squares cut 2 inches
Print: Ten squares cut 2 inches; Two rectangles cut 3 1/2 by 5 inches; Two rectangles cut 2 by 3 1/2 inches

Watch with directional prints to keep orientation horizontal for the rectangles. Or be happy with it going every-which way.

Piecing and pressing plan
There are two lay-outs, Block A (50 blocks) and Block B (50 blocks)

Pressing plans for Block A and Block B.  
Keep the center vertical seam unpressed until block unit lay-out.

Block A pressing plan
NOTE: block A has those horizontal 3 1/2 by 2 inch rectangles and 2 inch squares pressed with the seams away

Block B pressing plan
NOTE; block B has that same section with the seams pressed inwards.

Then sew A and B together, pressing that seam AND the two vertical seams in the blocks towards the B blocks.

Rotate one pair of blocks and sew along the horizontal seam. Don't press that yet.
Make 25  four-block units.

X orientation of the four-block unit--I used this in my quilt

O orientation of the four-block unit--I did not use that in my quilt.

Watch soon for layout for the top.
My design using a traditional block. Use at your pleasure.

overlapped 9-patch, top completed

 

Overlapped 9-patch
97 1/2 by 82 1/2 inches

143 blocks set into 13 rows of 11 blocks each
Block finishes 7 1/2 inches

Block directions can be found here:
https://kleinmeisjequilts.blogspot.com/2022/05/overlapped-9-patch.html

At the end of block construction, all vertical seams are in the same direction.
Lay out 11 blocks and sew together, keeping the seams in same direction and pressing the joining seams in that direction too.
Make 13 rows.

Keep all odd rows with seams pressed to the left, flip the even rows over so the seams are directed to the right.
Every seam will nest.
I usually dislike sewing long rows in a quilt, but this was not difficult--only two seams to nest in each block, and then the between block seams also nested.

I really like how this quilt turned out! 
The solid squares between the blocks look like tabs holding them together.

My design, use at your pleasure.