Sew Very Very Small Sampler...My Attempt

Happy Saturday! I've been working on this little sampler with 3 1/2"mini blocks. I found it here: http://weddingdressblue.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/tutorial-sew-small-sampler-quilt/  I thought it would be a great little project to get me acquainted with some traditional blocks, be a small project that I could complete quickly, and use up existing scraps. I also thought it would be fairly easy. As it turned out, it met all those challenges except the last.

Two of the blocks, the log cabin and the sawtooth star, I had to make twice in order to get them done to my satisfaction. The main difficulty I had was simply dealing with how small these blocks are. Each block is 3 1/2" (unfinished), so the individual elements were sometimes as small as 1" square. Small, indeed.

When I had all the blocks finished I thought the hard part was behind me. I started merrily on my way, sewing  3 1/2" white squares in between the blocks, with half square triangles and quarter square triangles (around the perimeter) that I cut from 3 1/2" square blocks. If I were a more experienced quilter it would probably have been obvious to me that the perimeter blocks had to be cut from larger squares than the typical blocks in order to leave room for the binding. But me, I had to actually get the first corner completely sewn together to realize that  if I put the binding on  the quilt I was currently making, I'd end up the corners of my patchwork blocks covered up by the binding.

That's when I put my thinking cap on and went back to my engineering / math background. Well, really it was just a little simple geometry...but I figured out that my perimeter HST's needed to be cut from squares that were 3 7/8" square and the four corner triangles needed to be cut from squares that were 3" square. Voila...it worked perfectly:

(Bravo to my daughter, Megan, holding the quilt for me!)

Of course, what you're seeing is the aftermath of the flubbed first attempt. There was a point when I had it all ripped out, my little blocks looked horrible with their edges all stringy and somewhat misshapen I wondered if I was going to be able to recover this project. Hence I'm doubly happy with how it turned out. I know it's hard to see in the photo, but I decided to quilt the patchwork blocks with a single circle. This gave me a chance to learn how to use that feature of my new sewing machine. (It's a little fussy, actually.)

Winding down the day, I can't omit mentioning that today is my dad's birthday. If he were still alive he'd be 74. Hardly a day passes that I don't think about him, but on his birthday those memories he left me are extra special. Sixteen years ago it hardly seemed possible to think about him without crushing grief; now I just have happy memories and feel blessed to have had such a special dad.

My Foray Into Quilting

I admit it...I have an addiction. I think about it all the time. I wake up in the middle of the night and find I'm dreaming about it. My mind is wandering always in the direction of textiles, thread, geometry, colors and combinations of colors, batting, binding, starch, my "stash"... my quilting addiction. What's scary is how quickly I've slid into this. I dusted off my sewing machine to whip up some quick Christmas gifts last November, and sometime in December something clicked in my brain. By January I was watching Youtube videos, lamenting I'd never had my grandmother teach me how to quilt while she was still alive. (Alas, not the grandmother in my profile photo, but my paternal grandmother).

Sometime in Early January I embarked on my first quilting project, a simple table runner in a "Crazy Quilt" style:

I even made my first attempt at machine quilting with this little number. It's pretty bad, really, but I'm proud of it because I just dove right in and went for it, and in doing so, I learned a lot.

My next attempt was a lap quilt using charm packs and a tumbler template:

I had lots of trouble getting my corners matched up, as I realized how inconsistent my "scant 1/4" seams were. My quilting was also disastrous. But again, I learned alot. 

I practiced on a couple smaller projects, like this little scrap bucket:

And I made a couple table runners just sewing blocks together. One major thing I did was buy a new sewing machine (yay!) That was a huge splurge but it's awesome. And best of all, it has a 1/4" foot with a guide. (Try as I might, I couldn't get one for my other sewing machine).

Now things are starting to turn out better for me, and I'm seeing progress in my quilting. There's not as much frustration and I no longer think it's something I'm not going to be able to master. (For a while there, I really thought it was beyond me. Designing buildings in my former life: yes; quilting in my current life: kicked my butt).

Anyway, here the last three quilts I've made:

This is a design from the Moda Bakeshop web page called "Wiggle Whimsy" (here's the link http://www.modabakeshop.com/2012/08/wiggly-whimsy-quilt.html)  and it's made with a charm pack and a jelly roll. It's sort of a secret, so don't tell her, but I'm giving it to my mom for her birthday next month.

This is a "jelly roll race" made from the "Little Matryoshka" line by Riley Blake. My daughter is really into all things Russian right now, so I made this one big enough for her twin sized bed. She (and her kitty) love it.

Did I mention that I'm quite fond of the "Little Matryoshka" fabric line, too? Well, I made another tumbler lap quilt out of 3 charm packs. I'm happy to report that this time, I had no trouble getting my corners to match up. Yay me...progress!

All three of these I quilted on my machine using a basic stipple. Each time I sit down to quilt, I'm chomping at the bit to get started, thinking "this is my favorite part". By the time I'm done, though, I'm ready to start piecing again. Bottom line, I don't know what my favorite part is.

And if you're wondering, I have tried to do something other than a basic stipple on sample quilt sandwiches, but with little success. That black and white tumbler was a mess, and I did a sort of fan pattern on it. I'd like to venture into more challenging freemotion quilting patterns, but clearly I need to wait until I master the basics first. 

Thanks for reading. Have a great day.