Darren Stanley
@rdarrenstanley
Looking for a space that speaks to my interests in quilting (he/him) 🏳️🌈 🇨🇦 🇺🇦 rdarrenstanley.ca
Got some linen fabrics. Gonna try to turn this into a proper quilt for my dad for Xmas - my first official quilt. This is one of 16 log cabin blocks I need before joining them on point, alternating with grey squares and half square triangles along the edge. Done accurately, it will be 76” x 76”.
I don’t know how this will work, but the first category of Brackman’s book has 12 pages of images, diagrams, and names galore for 10 different kinds of one patch blocks. I’m already stunned by the sheer number of diverse blocks in this category. How will I pick just 52?! Lol
Next quilt. This is 1 of the 12 blocks that will be pieced together. It’s not the quilt block I wanted, but it is the quilt block I made. Over time, I’ve made mistakes and ran out of fabric. Grrrr. I would have made a different choice for the lighter yellow pieces. Still. #WIP
So, the pieces are being auditioned now for a place in the biscotti quilt. Note that not all the squares have been placed quite yet. But I sense more moving, swapping, and turning around to come until it feels right. And now that I see the emerging piece, a number of pieces will be moved around.
And a couple more pics of my 43 inch square log cabin reduced to a lot of 3 inch squares! Lol
Well, it’s now chopped up! And time to arrange them before sewing it all back together. I also tried using my new cutting ruler.
I feel like I’m getting better with time and appreciating things like accurate seams, pressing, and such. I’d like to know if quilters “fuss” about the back sides of their quilts, especially where there could be lots of frayed pieces.
Well, here it is. My first Biscotti Quilt. Sewing all those block pieces together was a pain. Way too many seams to sew together and over. I almost thought I broke my machine! The back is a mess. The front has a few misaligned points. But I did it. Next time I’ll choose very different fabrics!
Two pieces. Decided to try different colors and slightly different arrangements. But I think the orange one is better. Not enough difference in the color values for the side yellow rectangles. Hmmmm. What shall I do….
Sheesh. I’m five short. …and that is a lot of excess fabric cut off. Such is the case of these square-in-square blocks, I guess. Still, I’m about ready for the next step! Yippee!
Today, I’m going to rage against the (sewing) machine…with some more square-in-square blocks.
I have tried the FPP method and I am getting lovely square-in-squares! Yeah me! Most importantly, my center squares are truly square, which was my problem before. Thanks for the tip and encouragement!
Here are three photos. (1) attaching the last two corners, (2) trimming the last two corners, and (3) a finished block.
A sample quilt block - quilting on point. Triangles and centre rectangle will be different colors. Triangles are “off” and I’m still not sure how to measure them to include seam allowance. All the same, it’s my pattern based on a picture I saw… which means I can’t be sure about the arithmetic! Lol
Thinking about doing this pattern, but I'm worried about all of the bias cuts that might stretch the blocks and make things wonky. Should I treat the triangles like HSTs? How do I measure and cut the raw triangles based on the finished measurements?
Pieced this 3x3 wall quilt for my husband, law partner at Fox, McNevin, and MacKay.
Finally! Made some measurement changes to a couple pieces and now everything seems to fit together as it should! #FancyFoxes
Not sure why my seams aren’t lining up. Still, they’re kinda cute. #quiltsky
Too distraught today by the WH Nazis. So I started on my next quilting pattern. It was stressful, too. Nothing was going right, which is what I get trying to “copy” a pattern from a picture. But here is the first of 16 blocks I need. Yes, I changed the original “yellow” pieces when I got annoyed.
Found this quilt in my Pinterest feed, described as the Heartwood Quilt. (quiltinspiration.blogspot.com) But I just noticed a neat elementary school math curriculum connection: each block shows how the number 1 can be decomposed: 1 = 1 = 1/2+1/2 = 1/2+1/4 +1/4 = 1/4+1/4 +1/4 +1/4. Cool!
Welllllll. Hahahaha. Found and attached my darning foot. Created a 12 inch block. And tried my first row of free motion sewing. This is “harder” than it looks in those YouTube videos I watched. Will try different speeds next. I bow down to all you quilters who make this look so easy! #quiltsky
A tad upsetting. Made some mistakes cutting out the blocks and then tried to fix my errors. I think this made some fitting issues with aligning seams. But…it’s done. My first improv quilt - followed a picture of another quilt to lay out the blocks. #quiltsky
Let’s see how these colors and the process for my first improv quilt will go….
And…it’s done. Not bad. I have seam issues, but for my first quilt top, I’m happy. Not happy with the thinness of the fabric and how it stretches when I handle it. Also not sure why some of the measurements are off when I join pieces, but…still…. Such is the postmortem!
Still a few white sashing strips to do and then I will have my first quilt top evah! #wip
Six blocks - two of each - to make a nice 3x4 block pattern with white sashing, which I will probably do this week!
My first block ever. For a perfectionist, this was stressful. The block is also not properly aligned. Can’t use it. It was intended to be my first sample block anyway. I truly know why one would want to cut all of one’s pieces first!