horizon

Horizon
Block finishes 9 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches 
I plan to set it 18 by 10, to finish 95 by 81 inches or 18 by 9, to finish 85 1/2 by 81 inches.

When making a complicated block I like to also make a simpler one to use as a break. This one was a good companion sewing project while making the Circled Squares.
It is a variation of the Riven block I made a couple years ago.
I like rectangle blocks. And this one gives a good amount of space to showcase prints. 

Cutting
Solid:
one 1 1/2 by 5 inch rectangle
Print:
one 9 1/2 inch by 5 inch rectangle, cut into a 6 by 5 inch rectangle and a 3 1/2 by 5 inch rectangle. 
(I do not always cut it from a 9 1/2 inch rectangle. When using scraps that are shorter than that I cut them individually.)

Sewing and pressing
Sew the solid rectangle between the print rectangles.
Do not press until time for assembly.

Assembly
I like to start by sewing all blocks into pairs. This gets me from 180 blocks to 90 units. 

Press every other block seams up or down.
I put pairs into the machine with the down pressing on top. At this point I have the most control over the blocks and by keeping the non-butting seams in this orientation, I save the more accurate butting together of the seams for when I am joining the units.

Then I sew three units together to have 30 large sections of 6 blocks.

These are put three sections to a row.
When rows are completed, press every other row left or right.
Join rows.
All seams will nest.
Watch for the completed top to be posted soon!

My design. Use at your pleasure.

broken dishes

Broken Dishes
Block finishes 7 inches
I plan to set it 14 by 12, to measure 98 by 84 inches; 168 blocks.

I love this simple traditional block and knew I would eventually get around to using it for one of these quilts.

Cutting
Solid:
four triangles cut from a 4 inch strip, using the EZ angle or Bonnie Hunter's Essential triangle tool
Print:
four triangles cut from a 4 inch strip, using the EZ angle or Bonnie Hunter's Essential triangle tool.
Hint with directional fabrics: cut a piece 18 inches. Fold it back on itself and make the cuts. The four resulting triangles will be oriented 4 different ways keeping the print directional in the resulting block

Sewing and pressing
Lay out the triangles to watch for orientation. I lay it out on a reference block so I keep the orientations correct.

Sew triangle prints to solids. Press towards the prints.

Lay out the squares, watch for orientation. 

Sew them together into 2-square units
Press towards the solid triangle

Sew together the horizontal seam
Do not press this seam until assembly.

Assembly with long columns (making 12 long columns to sew together):
Keeping horizontal seams horizontal, sew into 12 columns of 14 blocks.
Press each odd column with all horizontal seams going to the top.
Press each even column with all horizontal seams going towards the bottom
Assemble columns.
All seams will nest.

OR
(this is how I am doing it--I hope to complete the top this week--watch for that post!)

Assembly into units (leaving just 3 long seams to sew together at the end):
Sew 144 blocks into 36 4-block columns
Press horizontal seams going up
Take two units and rotate one, sew into an 8-block unit 
Make 18 of these
Do not press the vertical seams yet

Also, sew 24 into 12 2-block columns
Press horizontal seams going up
Take two of these units and rotate one, sew into a 4-block 
Do not press the vertical seams yet.

Set the 8-block units into three rows of 6 units each row.
Set the 4-block units into one row of 6 units.
Press every other row's vertical seams left or right.
Sew rows together.
All seams will nest.

Watch for my post of the completed top soon.

My directions of a traditional block.
Use at your pleasure.

thousand triangles, top completed

 Thousand Triangles

90 by 72 inches

Block finishes 9 inches
80 blocks set 10 by 8

There are actually 1440 triangles in this quilt!
I love this simple block and how the scraps make different shapes with the blocks next to them.
Go here to read details of block construction and assembly:
https://kleinmeisjequilts.blogspot.com/2021/04/thousand-triangles.html

My design using a traditional block.
Use at your pleasure.

thousand triangles

 

Thousand Triangles
Block finishes 9 inches

I plan to set it 8 by 10, to finish 72 by 90 inches.
80 blocks.

Another traditional block that has been on my mind quite a while.

(Note on the due-date fabric used above. When I worked as a library aide at the public library during college I never charged a late fee. I should probably send them a donation to make that up. Fabric by Heather Givans for Windham.)

Cutting
Solid:
nine triangles cut from a 3 1/2 inch strip using the EZ angle or Bonnie Hunter's Essential Triangle tool
Print:
nine triangles cut from a 3 1/2 inch strip using the EZ angle or Bonnie Hunter's Essential Triangle tool
Note: for directional prints you will need to cut 18 to get the 9 you need. You will just need to set them aside for another project! Or, embrace the chaos and don't pay attention to direction. 

Sewing and pressing
Sew solid triangles to the print
Press towards the print

Lay out in three rows and sew these
Make sure the print is always in the bottom right corner.
Press one row left and one row right. Sew these two rows together.

You will add the third row and need to make the blocks in one of two pressing configurations.
Block A has the top row pressed to the left on the back
Block B has the top row pressed to the right on the back

Press your remaining row to the right or left to make the block an A or a B.

Make half the blocks into A and half the blocks into B
Do not press horizontal seams until assembly

Lay out blocks into column, alternating A and B blocks. Sew these columns.
Press all horizontal seams in odd columns to the top
Press all seams in even columns to the bottom
All seams will nest

My directions for a traditional block.
Use at your pleasure.

circled squares, top completed

Circled Squares
96 by 84 inches
Block finishes 12 inches
56 blocks set 8 by 7

The origin of this design is murky. I see quilts from difference sources with the circled squares in a 9-patch construction dating to 2013, but cannot find who first came up with the idea. 
If you know who first came up with it, please let me know so I can edit this post and give credit. I include a link to my blog post that includes links to several patterns out there with the 9-patch construction below.

My adaptation was to change the piecing from a 9-patch to one with a rectangle in the center of the block. This cleans it up visually. 
I also developed a pressing method that ensures every seam in the setting of the quilt nests. This careful pressing may not make sense while piecing the blocks as seams do not meet when putting the three rows together. However, that pressing makes the top assembly work!
If you are sashing the blocks, no need to be as particular.

You can read about the quilts I researched and my adaptations in cutting, piecing, and pressing at my earlier post here:

https://kleinmeisjequilts.blogspot.com/2021/03/circled-squares.html

Layout
At this point none of your blocks have their horizontal seams pressed. That will wait until each column is assembled.

Use half your blocks as your "standard", oriented as such:

standard orientation

Use half your blocks as your "flipped", oriented as such:

flipped orientation

First Column and all odd columns
Use standard as your top left block.
Below it, a flipped block
Alternate for 8 blocks
Press all horizontal seams of odd columns towards the bottom

Second Column and all even columns
Use flipped for your top block
Below it, a standard block
Alternate for a total of 8 blocks
Press all horizontal seams of even blocks towards the top

Join columns. I decided to press all these seams to the right.

My adaptation of someone's idea--use my adaptations at your pleasure.

make a paper palm

I remember making these with my mom out of the colored funnies.

Gather supplies--paper (I used a financial prospectus), tape, and a good scissors BUT NOT THE GOOD SCISSORS.

Lay out the paper, overlapping by about an inch. Tape the junctures in two places.

Roll up the paper into a tube a bit smaller than a toilet paper tube. Tape about 4 inches from the bottom.

On the top end make four cuts in the cardinal directions, about 6 inches long.

Reach into the center and tug on a few pieces of the paper.

Pull out the palm. You can staple the base about 4 inches from the bottom for some stability.
You now have a paper palm to march around with on Palm Sunday!
 

circled squares

Circled Squares

Block finishes 12 inches 
I plan to set this 7 by 6 (84 by 72) or 8 by 7 (96 by 84) so 42 or 56 blocks.

I have seen this block on the web. I have not been able to find the origin of it--if you know please let me know and I can include that information here.

UPDATE: Blog reader Mego says it is a block from a while back called Circle of Friends.
I did a bit of research and that name is used for several other blocks too, but one similar to this one I can trace to at least 2011.  I also saw it named as A Circle of Squares. All I have found had more pieces and were set in a 9-patch formation.
I'll update again when I learn more.
And, go check out Mego's blog--it is really fun!
https://basketfullofscraps.blogspot.com/
Reader JoyceLM reports Windham fabrics has a tutorial for the 9-patch version:
https://windhamfabrics.net/cgi-bin/fabricshop/projects.cgi?patternID=706
I am glad to see there are several versions of this out there so I am not appropriating one person's work. I do hope to eventually find out who came up with the idea.
There are also versions with circled triangles. Which are now on my list!

The blocks I saw were constructed in a 9-patch fashion.
Because I wanted to use prints for the background I re-drafted it to keep a larger portion un-pieced and oriented the corner units to keep their rectangles horizontal. This calms down the fracturing of the prints and allows the squares to visually float over the block.

Cutting
Solid:
eight squared 2 1/2 inches

Print: (be mindful of orientation of pieces with directional fabric)
one rectangle 4 1/2 by 6 1/2 inches 
six rectangles 1 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches
four rectangles 2 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches
four squares 2 1/2 inches
eight rectangles 2 1/2 by 1 1/2 inches

Block construction and pressing
Lay out block, keeping the 2 1/2 by 4 1/2 rectangles horizontal

Pressing is odd but it makes sense in keeping the block square and for when the quilt is ready for assembly. There is no nesting at all in block construction, so careful sewing is in order.
I press from the front of the blocks, so in the pictures when I say press to the right, some will show the back of the units and they will look like to the left--sorry about that bit of head twisting.

Corner units:
Sew four solid and print squares together, press towards the print
Sew the rectangles to the these units, lay out block and press the top two down towards the solid squares. Press the bottom two away from the solid squares.

Interior units:
Sew four solid squares and the 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 rectangles together, press towards the print. Sew the 1 1/2 by 4 1/2 rectangles to both sides of two of these units and to one side of the remaining two units. Sew those two to either side of the 4 1/2 by 6 1/2 rectangle.
Keeping the 4 1/2 sides vertical, sew them to the corner units.

Press the center unit so all seams go to the right.

row pressing shown from the back

Press the upper and lower unit so all seams go to the left. (except the seams around the solid squares--let them stay the way they were pressed earlier.
(In construction, some of the pressing is not necessary to be the way I do it. But it makes sense in keeping the pressing consistent in one direction for each row so I am not constantly thinking does this seam matter later on or not.)

Join the three rows. There are no seams to match, so be careful to not distort as you sew the long 12 inch seam.

Wait to press the final two horizontal seams until it is time for assembly.

Lay out the blocks is complicated to describe but is not complicated in process.
Lay into columns, rotating every other block, keeping the center row horizontal. Make sure you start each first block of a column rotated opposite of the one next to it, then rotate the blocks below it so all blocks nest both north and south and east and west.

Sew into columns.
Then, press all seams of odd columns up and even columns down.
Sew columns together. 
All seams will nest.

I will post pictures of this process when I assemble the quilt top. 

My adaptation of a block out there.
Use at your pleasure.

calendar quilt, three quarters of the year on

I started this on my birthday in July. Andy likens it to a prisoner checking off days on the wall of a cell.
There is a square for each day. I don't work on it every day, rather get caught up on weekends.

jack and jill squares, quilt completed

Jack and Jill squares
2021
84 by 72 inches

Quilted by Sue Divarco using a pantograph of tumbling children

Made with 2 1/2 inch squares from my scrap boxes along with squares my small group has sent to each other in a round-robin envelope during these covid times.
Directions are here:
https://kleinmeisjequilts.blogspot.com/2020/08/jack-and-jill-with-round-robin-squares.html
My design, use at your pleasure.

Fading Charms from Wedding Dress Blue--top completed

Fading Charms
88 inches square

Deanna over at Wedding Dress Blue has a tutorial for her Fading Charms quilt. She offers it in three sizes, using 2 1/2, 2. or 1 1/2 inch patches. 

https://weddingdressblue.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/tutorial-fading-charms-quilt/

It isn't photographing well--it is more beautiful in person. I hope when it is quilted it will look better.

My 2 1/2 inch squares boxes--yes, there are multiples--were no longer shutting. This after making three quilts this past year from them: the Jack and Jill squares, the Orange Medallion 16-patch, and the ongoing Calendar quilt. So I went for Deanna's 2 1/2 inch size. I also went beyond her 72 inch top by adding a 16-patch border to use up even more of the squares. It took 40 16-patches for the border.

Deanna's pattern takes 846 squares. My 16-patch borders took another 640. That is 1486 squares out of my boxes. This used up 1/4th of my squares. I have more plans! I love having these squares ready to go when inspiration hits.
Thank you, Deanna, for sharing your great ideas.

I used a taupe Bella solid, BLK0119 for the frames. I cut them with the lengthwise grain. I found it best to always sew with the patchwork on top and to always press to the solid frame. Will likely use a wool batt to help reduce the weight of the quilt and bind with the taupe.

All my 2 1/2 inch squares quilts this past year include patches my small group shared in our mailed round-robin. These packets arrive about every 2 weeks and are such a joy to open and see what others have been using in their quilts. Those little LaCrosse sticks came from the exchange--love them.

St Patrick's Day is a fine day for a wedding. 37 years.

Our second anniversary in quarantine! 
The one on the right is vaccinated.

sample blocks

 Working out the pressing plan on these sample blocks to see if they will progress to actual projects.

my grandmothers' pincushions

My grandmothers’ pincushions. Both made of wool and stuffed with sawdust I believe. Left, the patchwork one belonged to Cynthia Meerdink Dykstra. She told me it was her mother’s, Lena Huibregtse Meerdink. On the right the knit one with the little pom poms belonged to Ella (Hillegen) Diekevers Scholten. Such fine knitting. My mom said she didn’t think her mother knitted and it may have been made by Ella’s mother, Carrie (Graada) Rabbers Diekevers who did knit.

a five-generation quilt

38 by 37 inches

In 2013 my friend and pastor Avena asked me to make her a liturgical stole to wear during the white seasons (Christmas, Easter, and special occasions like weddings). You can read about the stole here:
https://kleinmeisjequilts.blogspot.com/2013/04/making-liturgical-piece.html

She asked me to incorporate a quilt top her grandmother made from Avena's childhood and youth clothing and other family sewing projects that her mother cut into squares. Her grandmother was quite far into dementia and the construction of polyesters, rayons, and cottons was puckered and poofed.
I used it as the lining of the stole so it was close and private to Avena. I loved how when she walked the bottom hems would flare out and we could see a peek of the patchwork.

I asked Avena what to do with the remainder of the patchwork and she said I could discard it. Instead I tucked it away thinking someday there might be a grandchild. And, over 7 years years later, and despite our move and Avena's retirement and move across the country, I knew where it was when I heard Baby was with us.

It was too fragile to handle quilting on my domestic machine, so my friend Sue Divarco took it on her longarm with my request that all I wanted was for it to be flat, let tucks form where they will. She quilted it quite densely. I used a 1930s reproduction for the back, a nod to Avena's grandmother. The fabrics of the patchwork I date to range from the 1920s to the 1970s. I used 6 leftover pieces of red binding from my own quiltmaking.

Because I had cut away a portion of the patchwork for the stole there was a remnant rectangle of patchwork I trimmed and bound to make a small table mat. I like that there is a stain in the black gingham!

14 by 5 inches

In the end very little was discarded. Most of the patchwork went into the stole, the quilt, and the mat.

I left about 6 inches to sew in the binding so Avena and her daughter can put the final stitches in the quilt.
The quilt is finished. It was made by the hands of Avena's grandmother and mother, by Avena and her daughter. And now, ready to swaddle Baby.
Five generations.

working on the alphabets

It has been a busy semester, but I have found time to make a few letters now and then. They will be my tax-prep-respite for the next few weeks.
Using the Moda alphabet, with my own modifications.
 

calendar quilt--a year half passed

I started this calendar quilt on my birthday in July. The thought behind it was marking off the days during quarantine. A bit of hubris to start a year-long project when we are in danger of the pandemic.
Most weeks I catch up on Saturdays as I do not work on it every day. I choose a square based on events, thoughts, moods. Most often I choose a fabric that reminds me of a family member or a friend, selected because I thought of them that day. Some of the fabrics are from these people. Sometimes it is just a fabric or color I love.
And sometimes it gets the mood of the day. There are little nurses and a Dr Fauci back when the vaccine was released. There is a Ruth Bader Ginsburg too.
Sadly, this week I included a chaos block for when the Capital was stormed.
Let us hope for calm going forward.

I cut solids when I have solids out for other projects. I cut squares ahead too.
Blocks are made ahead and kept in a box ready to pull from as they fit the day, or a fabric is sought out to commemorate a day.
The smartest thing I did in designing the quilt was to have a spacer between each Saturday and Sunday, making it easier to see where I left off.

Click on the "calendar quilt" label below to read previous posts detailing block construction and quilt design.
My design, use at your pleasure.

start at the very beginning

I started this alphabet today--actually two. One with batik scraps and the other with 30's repros and a constant green. I think I will go forward with both.
https://my.modafabrics.com/2019/02/moda-spell-it-with-fabric

Here is a link to the pattern:
https://www.fatquartershop.com/moda-spell-it-with-fabric-quilt-free-pdf-pattern

If you download it and print double sided, then fold in half at the horizontal, staple it, it makes a book.
Letters finish 10 by 8 before sashings/spacers

I have learned so far:
-Write the cut sizes larger as they are small and in green print. I have already made mistakes.
-Change the cutting when it doesn't make sense. On the B the right side does not need so many pieces. I made the two squares and two rectangles of that side into two rectangles 3 1/2 by 2 1/2.
-Press the way it wants to be pressed, not the way they say to. With the batiks behaving differently from the 30's fabric, I let them do what they wanted.
-I am using Doug Leko's simple folded corners mini. Any flipped triangle method would work but I like this one. Link below.

Anyone want to join me on this?
I am not rushing this. It may turn out to be a several months project.
I am not worrying about the sashing/spacers/layout for now.
There is also a mini version of these. Link below.

https://www.primitivegatherings.us/mini-alphabet-quilt?search=mini%20alphabet&description=true

https://antlerquiltdesign.com/collections/notions/products/mini-simple-folded-corners-ruler