Triangulate: Complete

I took pictures of this quilt over a month ago, when my backyard had only a sprinkling of leaves on it. There are many silly reasons I didn't post this quilt until now--and one serious one. It turns out that transferring pictures from the camera to the computer is somewhat essential to the blogging process, and not misplacing the cord that connects said technological devices is, well, somewhat imperative. But the cord has been located, the pictures moved, and the blog (is being) updated. This process has also revealed to me that these pictures are not, shall we say, the most amazing. I think I need some new photography angles and venues, and a human helper wouldn't hurt. But for now, they will suffice.

Way back when (in March), I asked the members of do.Good Stitches: Empower to make some triangle-in-triangle blocks. I had a vague notion in my head that they would be cool, and wrote up one way to make the blocks. But I had no real plan beyond that. After fussing with a number of possible layouts on my brother's living room floor, I built the quilt around triangles and lots of Kona charcoal. And then paused while I lived sans sewing machine and pondered the quilting options.

Echoing triangles -- a term I just made up -- won the quilt pondering (who knew it was a contest?). I wanted simple and non-distracting. If I were a fancy quilter, which I am certainly not, or owned a long-arm, which I definitely do not, I could imagine filling the charcoal with awesomely intricate quilting and doing something else I haven't really figured out in the triangles. But absent radical, magical changes in my life, neither of those things were happening. And since I hope this quilt will be well-used by whomever Alternatives for Girls gives it to, I wanted it to remain soft, which minimal quilting helps achieve. To bind it, I used a mixture of Terrain prints in orange and pink.

This is my second-to-last quilt for do.Good Stitches, at least for now. In September, the lovely Empower ladies made fantastic neutral log cabin blocks that I'll be putting together...soonish. I've truly enjoyed getting to know the other crafty women in my group, and love the concept of do.Good Stitches -- working with a group of people to make quilts and donating them. Last year, as I was traveling to archives for dissertation research, this project was one of several things that kept me grounded and provided a certain amount of regularity in a peripatetic (I just love that word!) life. But this year, as I'm sitting down to write, I've found that feeling grounded requires fewer obligations and more flexibility. As a result, after some hard thinking and internal debating, I decided that it was time to let dGS go. I have one more quilt to wrap up, and I look forward to seeing all the incredible quilts the group continues to make, but for now, watching from the sidelines is where I need to be. 

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Squeaking By

Deadlines and I have a contested relationship right now. Witness: My June do.Good Stitches blocks.

Heather asked us to make Lynne's "Lynne Bob Square Pants" blocks with Kona Ash as the background color. I could blame my tardiness on the fact that I was waiting to get back to Michigan and get my hands on some Ash (true) or on being away from my sewing machine for almost all of June (true) or a tree getting in the way of weekend sewing at the end of June (true). All of these factors contributed to my delinquency, but I also confess that once back in Michigan, with my sewing machine, in possession of Kona Ash, I also tarried a bit. These blocks are a lovely, but a bit persnickety for my sewing tendencies. They're going to make a great quilt, but 36 squares yielding a mere 12.5" block? It's just not my style. As I said at the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild's Sew-In on Sunday, 3.5 hours of sewing should require using more than one bobbin.

In the spirit of confession-time, I will also note that this month I definitely have a favorite block. The aqua and red one. I'm pretty sure quilters, unlike parents, are allowed to express preferences among blocks, but I usually try to love them all equally. Not this month, I'm afraid. But that's okay because the quilt chorus is also a lovely place to be.

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Triangulate

In March, I asked my do.Good Stitches: Empower circle to make Triangle-in-Triangle blocks. They indulged my crazy idea, and I had a big pile of triangles to make into a quilt. For both time and design reasons, the triangles stayed in a pile for weeks, maybe even months. Although I loved experimenting with the triangle block, I never made a plan for how I would turn the triangles into a quilt top.

I tried a number of layouts -- rows, hexagons (big and giant), diamonds, trapezoids -- with a number of different color schemes -- like colors together, contrasting colors together, rainbows. None of them clicked. They just didn't feel right -- some were too chaotic, some lacked unity, some bored me. I returned the triangles to their piles and let them be.

One night, while annoyingly awake at 4 am, I thought anew about the layout problem. At which point I had the amazingly obvious pair of realizations: I love negative space and thus needed to use it with the triangles. I love irregular, geometric designs and thus needed to apply that idea to the triangles. So I did.

I connected some triangles and left others standing alone. I let some rows sit side-by-side, and I inserted some space between others. I started with some triangles farther apart and chopped fabric to bring some closer together. It changed along the way, as is my style, and I like the result. Now I just need to quilt it.

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dGS: May

I've returned to the whirlwind life: going to sleep in 5 different places in 6 nights. It's almost glamorous, except for the shlepping of stuff, the digging through the bag for contact-lens solution, and the reacquaintance with x-long twin beds. So maybe a college dorm room isn't glamorous, but my 10-year college reunion (go Ephs!) was delightful and fun, if a tad exhausting. In the past week, I also snuck in a couple of academic conferences and now I have a couple of weeks in New York for research (and play). In each of my previous NYC summer stints, I lived in Brooklyn. This time, my friend and I are subletting an apartment in the East Village, which means--among other things--that I am surrounded by tons of vegetarian cafes and restaurants...pure delight, I must say.

While real life has a funny way of limiting sewing time, I managed to get these blocks together (at the last possible second) for do.Good Stitches. In May, Kelli asked for framed patchwork blocks. I was grateful for a simple block (see: last-minute sewing), and I think these will look great together in a quilt.

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Black Hole

The last 2 weeks of April and the first week of May pretty much escaped from my life. I mean, I know where I've been -- the travels include 3 different time zones, some flights, a set of two 11+ hour and two 5ish hour drives, work involved writing a couple conference papers and conference remarks, tooling around in multiple archives, and life included trying to take care of basic things like laundry and food preparation during this insanity. I'm not sure I've ever experienced quite as much zig-zagging about as I did in April 2012 (which in my mind includes May 1-5 as well).

Not that ends, exactly, as tomorrow I'll get in my car again and head to DC. But, quite remarkably for my life this academic year, I will be in DC for 4 weeks. Four weeks. In one place. Amazing. I should also note that while all my clothes for the next 7-8 weeks fit in 1 carry-on sized bag, the same cannot be said for my sewing stuff. Since I'll in one place for so long and driving, it seemed like a good idea to bring my sewing machine. I tried to keep it reasonable by pre-selecting some fabric for some projects, but we'll see how that goes.

In the meantime, I was able to squeeze in a little sewing over the crazy month. Last weekend, I eked out my do.Good Stitches April string blocks just under the May wire (which might bear some resemblance to a May pole, at least in my fogged mind). There was a also a little piecing and quilting, though not much else. Which is a problem since I really wanted to finish some bag gifts for some friends, but luckily, they're very patient people. They may have to be patient for another two months, alas.

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Tutorial: Triangle-in-Triangle Blocks

While pretty and full of potential, square-in-square blocks must occasionally give way to other polygons. It's the triangle's turn, and I'll be asking my fellow quilters-in-crime to make triangle-in-triangle blocks for do.Good Stitches in March. Although trendy rarely describes two.hippos' general ethos, it turns out I am quite fashionable this month as Lynne will also be debuting some (wonky) triangle-in-triangle blocks.

These blocks are pretty easy--dare I say straightforward--to make. Start with an equilateral triangle of whatever size you prefer, add a border of another fabric, rinse and repeat until you get to the desired size. I started with 4 triangles ranging from 3" to 6" and it took 4 rounds to reach 12.5" from a point to an edge (that is, the line bisecting the triangle, not the length of the triangle's edge). 

This tutorial assumes basic sewing knowledge. It also assumes an ability and willingness to go with the flow since precise measurements are intentionally lacking. The amount of fabric you need will vary by a) the starting triangle and b) the width of the strips you attach to create the next triangle.

1. 

Cut out some equilateral triangles. Quick geometry review: equilateral triangles have three sides all the same length (hence: equal) which means each corner has a 60 degree angle. I happen to own a plastic template, but you can easily make your own by drawing a triangle, printing one from your computer, or using your cutting board which may well have 60 degree angles marked. If you're cutting a triangle from a charm square, a 4.5" one is your best bet.

2. 

Cut strips for to surround your triangle. They can be any width, though anything less than 1" may be a touch tricky the first time out. Make sure your strips extend beyond the points of the triangles. This is very important; otherwise you will not create a full triangle and will spend needless time ripping out seams. (Guess who did this the first time around?). I recommend erring on the side of lots to trim for trimming is far less time-consuming (albeit a little fabric-wasting) than seam-ripping and re-sewing.

3. 

Sew the first strip to one edge of the triangle. See how the strip extends way beyond the points? That's good. Now press your seam (I press open, but you could press to one side).

4. 

Now you can see why you need a strip longer than the triangle's edge! Line your ruler up with the triangle's edge and trim the newly added strip. Then trim the other side. All should be good.

5. 

Sew a strip to the next side. It doesn't really matter which one, as the both options are adjacent to the already-sewn side, but you'll probably want to continue adding strips in the same order. I tend to add them counter-clockwise. Why, I have no idea.

6.

Trim it up. You could stop here if you just want to make some tents -- for a campsite quilt perhaps?

7.

Add the third strip and trim it up. At this point, you also want to "triangle" up the block. Apply the same principle as squaring up blocks: decide how wide the strip should be, measure from the edge of the inner triangle/row (e.g., place the 1.5" line on the seam between the blue and pink), and trim. Repeat for each side. This ensures, to the best of bias edges' existence, that your triangle will remain a triangle.

8.

Rinse and repeat. Err, start adding a new round of strips: sew, trim, sew, trim, sew, trim. Triangle-up. Do this as many times as you need to get the desired size you would like.

9.

Admire your finished triangles. (Note: these are very easy to chain-piece, so if you know you'll be making more than one, I recommend chain-piecing.) Contemplate how to sew them together.

10.

The end. Or a few postscripts. 

a) you could add strips that are the same or different widths

b) contrasting widths can create cool effects

c) this is a great block for prints and solids

d) I'd love to see what you make

e) check back in April to see what I do with the dGS triangle blocks.

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Twirl

It's Michonne's month in do.Good Stitches, and she asked for Ribbon Blocks, with yellow stars and aqua ribbons. These blocks are going to create a lovely quilt. That said, making these blocks made me very happy that I came of quilting age in an era of modern quilting, because lots of little pieces that need to fit exactly into place would not have led me to prolific quilting (and the prolific fun that results from it). Now, these weren't difficult to make, they simply required a lot of instruction-checking and concentration. And much like I prefer to free-form it in the kitchen with recipes as a starting point (that adage about baking requiring precision is rubbish! Or at least only sort-of true: if you know what cake/brownie/cookie dough/bread batter should feel like, you can adapt), so too do I relish a certain imprecision at the sewing machine. But one of the benefits of do.Good Stitches is regularly moving outside the sewing comfort zone and that's a good thing, even if it lands me back in the comfort zone...

...of some improv log cabin blocks. Carrie asked for some volunteers to make blocks for a quilt for Avery, a young gymnast who recently fell and was paralyzed. As a former gymnast who has stayed somewhat involved in the sport (some coaching, some meet-directing, and now mostly spectating), this particular quilt project felt especially important, and these blocks were fun (and quick!) to make.

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Slow to Bloom

Heather was our fearless leader for January's round of do.Good Stitches. She provided us with instructions for blossom blocks, and we made them in a purples-and-pinks palette, with a background of coal. I admit that I'm a touch concerned that the Coal I bought is not actually Coal. It seemed darker than it should have been, but it was labeled Coal, so hopefully it's correct. Once I was home for more than 12 hours at a time (January was a little nutty with travel; February is somewhat similar), they came together quite quickly. I grabbed a picture of them on the steps of the Eisenhower Library before mailing them out earlier this week.

Michonne has asked for Ribbon Stars for February, and I've cut out all the pieces. Which places me way ahead of where I was a month ago for January's blocks. This suggests I should be able to crank them out before I leave for Utah at the end of February. Suggests being the operative word. What is no longer a suggestion but will be a reality is heading to Sarah's Fabrics in Lawrence tomorrow, where I'll not only get to see the amazingness many have raved about but also get to meet up with Mary Anne, who made me a set of fabulous placemats in the first round of the For the Love of Solids Swaps.

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Love in a (Snowy) Mist

It may be a few months late, and I may be taking advantage of needing to charge my camera to post this, but my first do.Good Stitches quilt is complete. Way back in October, I asked my group, Empower, to make "Love in the Mist" blocks. I sewed the blocks together in 5 quads, and added more white to give the blocks space to breathe (quilt blocks need a lot of oxygen, clearly).

I took the final block and much yardage to the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild retreat a couple weekends ago. My subtraction skills were a little lacking when I cut the pieces to flank the quad unit, which led to much annoyance with myself. But there's always a way to recover, and in this case, the back was a little slimmer than intended, but it worked out. As Rossie remarked, my quilting stories frequently involve mismeasurements or unplanned detours due to insufficient yardage. Which have all worked out just fine, so mismeasure away!

I have included this gratuitous shot simply because I love it. But I will take this opportunity to note that I quilted the top in a rectangular grid of sorts -- which is much more visible on the image of the back, above. I used both orange and gray thread on the front, and gray thread on the back. The gray performed beautifully while the orange bled in a couple of spots. I'm working on removing those stains before I drop it off.

Teal Ta-Dot binding gave the quilt just the pop it needed. I think may be my new favorite fabric. Or maybe I just love teal (true statement) and therefore have been missing this fabric all my life. I'm just about out of it but Brenda, my always-hilarious local dealer of all things delightful in fabric, promises me she has more on order. When I get back to Michigan, I'll buy some more Teal Ta-Dots and drop Love in a (Snowy) Mist off at Alternatives for Girls, where all of the dGS:Empower quilts will go.

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Heart to Heart

I think I completed my last sewing for 2011 this morning. Although a few hours remain in the year, I've only got about 3 hours until friends come over for a New Years gathering, and somehow I don't think they'll be pleased if the entertainment is watch me sew. Call me crazy, but I put away the machine, cleaned up my sewing messes, and made a pinata. And baked and prepped some food.

But back to the pictures....for our December do Good Stitches quilt, Kelli asked us to make heart blocks. She gave us ample freedom, simply requesting heart-focused blocks made from reds, pinks, and whites and one more color. Technically she said use our favorite color, but I chose colors that I thought worked best with the fabrics and blocks.

Inspired by Sandi's list of paper-pieced hearts, I made the block on the right first. Hers were 6-inch templates, while I wanted a slightly larger heart, so I drafted my own based on her diagrams. I cut a standard piece of printer paper into an 8.5" square and then folded it every which way to have lots of angles to work with. Then I drew in the lines, stared at the template for a while, and finally labeled the piecing order. It's the first time I moved beyond a ready-made template for paper-piecing, and it provided some good mental exercise. The bias edges on some of the corners make it lay a little less flat than I would like, but I think it will be fine.

After paper-piecing, I wanted something simple. And I haven't made a square-in-square block in ages, so square-in-square it was. I transferred my elementary-school construction paper heart-cutting experiences to fabric, and made myself a swirly purple heart which I appliqued onto my pretty block. I'm slowly starting to see the fun in applique.

So there you have it, the last blocks of 2011. Except that I actually have three quilts to show you: two are making their way to their new owners and one needs to get photographed well. Obviously I can't do any sort of "year in quilts summary" without these ones included. Or maybe I can. To be determined. In 2012.

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Yes, Virginia, She Can Sew

It's taken awhile, but I finally used my sewing machine and started putting together the October do Good Stitches bee quilt. I played with a lot of ideas about how to use all the blocks (mostly in my head). I knew I didn't want to just sew all the blocks together as I thought it would be too busy.

I contemplated uneven rows or rows unevenly spaced, but ultimately decided to make 5 big blocks of 4 stars each. I'm going to sash each of the big blocks and hopefully create some floating big blocks. I may get a little improvisational as I sash. Since I now have 5 big blocks, I'm going to use 4 on the front and 1 on the back.

Having now seen all the awesome blocks that my group sent me, I have to confess that I love the solids (none of which I made) the most. Maybe I'm just in a solids-place, loving solids anyways. But there's something about the crispness of the blocks that really appeals to me. Don't get me wrong, I still like the others; I'm just lauding simplicity at the moment.

After I had sewn the blocks together and was arranging them to take pictures, I realized that this block looks pretty damn cool when set on point. I briefly considered ripping out the blocks and remaking the quilt on point with white blocks in between each star block. But then I recognized the insanity and opted to file that layout away for another time.

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do. Good Stitches: November

After my last-minute block-making for my own month in do. Good Stitches, it was time to be diligent and efficient this month. Shannon picked a great block and a wonderful color scheme of gray/tangerine/aqua. I was able to make the blocks out of my scrap bin (plus the Kona Ash from Shannon). I do use aqua and orange a fair amount, after all. These blocks were super easy to put together -- cutting the pieces definitely took the most time, but once that was done, the sewing was quick.

I think the upper left block is my favorite. I like how the scale of each of the prints works with the other. As I noted to Felicity last week, I like the challenge of bees in which each person is sewing from their stash. It means choosing blocks that can play well together even when the fabrics are pretty different. I think this block is a real winner in that regard.

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Delinquent!

It's taken me until the last day of the month to make, take pictures, upload, and post my blocks for my month in do.Good Stitches. At least they don't have to be mailed anywhere!

I made a tiny bit of progress in depleting using my scrap box. Although this block required a lot of HSTs, it came together quite quickly once I had cut all the pieces.

I'm realizing that my black desk provides a nice backdrop for pictures when there is sufficient natural light, aka a sunny day.

Here's a little glimpse at all the blocks I have thus far. Six more are heading my way and I need to decide how to arrange them. Although they're side by side in this image, I doubt that I will piece them like this. I think these blocks need more negative space to really stand out. I'm thinking of pairs or short rows (maybe 3 blocks each) surrounded by a lot of white. I may need to get more white as I've got about a half-yard right now....

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do. Good Stitches: October

It's been one of those weeks. Or, really those past couple of days that have stretched to feel like a week. Rainy, filled with work, challenging personally and professionally, exhausting. Time in which my bed seems like the best destination but once in it, my mind is racing so much that sleep fails me. Yep, truly delightful. Did I mention the 3 inches of rain over the past two days? Sogginess does not inspire me to go for a run even though I know exercise is good for me. And the furniture in my living room and dining room is in the center of each room, covered with tarps (all for good reasons, but it makes both the couch and my sewing machine unavailable to me). And my computer randomly shut itself off last night for no apparent reason (thank goodness for back-up copies and recovered versions of documents). After turning my computer back on, I checked my email and found a sweet piece of spam asking "do you model?" And I laughed and that felt good.

From Shannon

I buried myself under several blankets, finally got some sleep, and woke up this morning determined to turn things around. This means getting work done today and this weekend, but also doing some things for me -- some sewing, some hiking. And on the sewing front, it's time to make my blocks for do. Good Stitches.

From Shelley

As I might have mentioned, I'm leading the new Empower Circle. I am one delinquent leader, for I posted my blocks in late September but have not yet made them. To be fair, I was away for 10 days without a sewing machine and then life got overwhelming. But in the spirit of empowerment and admiration for the fab blocks other group members have already made and sent me, it's time to make some Love in a Mist blocks.

From Heather

I cut out the pieces for my blocks (first picture) and asked my group to make blocks using a palette of warm fall colors -- deep purple, burnt orange, cranberry, gold, etc. I asked for a white background but also suggested that some blocks could flip the white and the color to create some reverse blocks.

From Kelli

I also suggested that while I liked the scrappy blocks, a couple two-fabric ones (solids or prints) would add to the variation. I think there is something simple and stunning about this one:

From Heather

And with that, off to work and then later in the day or weekend, to sew. Have a wonderful weekend!

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Immune No More

I've generally willed myself away from quilt-alongs. Not because I don't like the concept or don't want to quilt with (virtual) friends or don't want to make another quilt. Mostly, I bookmark them and note keep the instructions accessible so, if at some point in time, it's what I want to make and I have the time, I can. But I think I might actually do one. Kate and Kristie are doing a drunkard's path quilt-along, and I have really wanted to make some drunkard's path blocks for a while now. Kate's amazing quilt cemented my interest in the block and the design possibilities it offers. Of course, the timing isn't quite perfect, but I think I can make it work. Or not....to be determined. But I will figure out curved piecing this fall, one way or another.

In other quilting news, I'm the host, or as a friend dubbed me "Chief Quiltress," of a new do.Good Stitches circle. Hosting comes with organizational responsibilities (very appealing to my spreadsheet-loving mind), but also gave me the opportunity to select the charity to which we'll donate quilts. I'm excited that our new Empower Circle will be sending quilts to Alternatives for Girls, a really wonderful organization that does outreach, offers mentoring, and provides shelter to teenage girls in Detroit. I'll be leading off in October, and I need to decide/finalize the block I'll ask the circle to make. I'm toying with a few ideas, but if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears!

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