Fun Stripes

 In an attempt to clean out some WIPs, I took out this stripey project that I started in August 2013. I made 4 blocks back then, and set it aside. Every time I look at my stripe stash, I think about this project. The time finally came to bust some stash!

The technique by Anita Grossman Solomon makes matching all those stripes super easy. You already know that I think she is a genius. This is more proof of that! With four identical striped squares, you make this large block with 2 X-centric and 2 concentric units. Please purchase her book Rotary Cutting Revolution for full instructions.

 

I had so much fun collecting interesting striped fabrics.

 

 Look at those perfect centers!

Some fabrics don't produce 4 identical squares from 1/4 yard. In this case below, I was able to cut 2 pairs of matching strips. The effect is still interesting.

 

The top now measures about 56" X 70" which is a nice lap size.

Add another to the to-be-quilted pile! I've got a little tendonitis in my wrist from all this quilting, so I might need to cut back a little. Finishes will not be coming as quickly in the coming weeks!

Sewvivor- Seaside Stitches- Tina Craig

I'm very excited to share my audition piece for Sewvivor Season 3- Quilting Edition. Sew-vivor is a sewing competition hosted by Family Ever After. Rach has done an amazing job of assembling the judges and prizes. It will be fun to watch the competition progress, even if I'm not selected to play along.

Please allow me to introduce my audition quilt,

T is for Tina.

This quilted wall hanging was made in 2013, following a visit to our guild by Anita Grossman Solomon. I've been a huge fan of hers for years, so it was pure joy to spend two days with her last summer. She had a knack for devising ingenious methods to make piecing easier and more fun. Such was the case with her brand new T quilt. 

Anita and me with take out from Aunt Carrie's

The pattern was being submitted to Quiltmaker magazine, and Anita graciously gave me a sneak peek. I wasted no time getting it pieced, but then had to decide how to quilt it. On the pic below, I've drawn a large orange T to indicate the area that was quilted with parallel straight lines. The area outside (under) the T was quilted with free motion flowers.

Here, you can see the contrast between the straight lines and the curvy flowers.

The corner squares were paper pieced and micro-stippled in the background.

The small inner border is quilted with a swirly scroll. The outer border is quilted with a free motion fan that I learned in Angela Walter's Craftsy class.

I needed to take new pictures for this entry, so we brought the quilt along on a hike this weekend. Indulge me as I show off the beautiful Rhode Island coast.

This quilt makes me happy. I had wanted to make a T quilt for myself since I started quilting 20+ years ago. Tessellations are cool. The colors remind me of places like this. And I had so much fun making this quilt!

My amazing husband is squatting down behind the quilt!

T is for Tina

by Tina Craig, Seaside Stitches

Designed by Anita Grossman Solomon

(Anita's "T" Time, Quiltmaker Mar/Apr 2014)

Blue & green scraps, Kona white background, V&Co border

47" X 48"

Started September 3, 2013

Completed November 4, 2013

Craft Book Month

Craft Buds is hosting a blog hop and link up party for Craft Book Month. It's a fun way to see projects from favorite books. I'm jumping in to show you our projects from Anita Grossman Solomon's Rotary Cutting Revolution. It is a few years old, but I'm still being inspired by it.

My largest completed project from this book was a quilt for a friend made with Anita's Arrowhead blocks in April. I had great fun attacking my batik stash in search of the more manly designs.

The pretty pink blocks were my test blocks and certainly didn't fit the theme of the quilt, so they became a Spring table runner.

 

When my daughter Julia decided to make a quilt for her boyfriend, she chose the Old Italian block from the same book. 

 

 Her Army boy loves his new quilt! She gave it to him at his graduation from boot camp in July.

 Of course there are UFO's, too. When I bought the book a few years ago, I started collecting striped fabric to make Xcentric and Concentric blocks.

The stack had gotten too large to fit on the shelf, so it was time to start stitching! Don't tell Julia, but I bought another stripe yesterday. (She tried to cut me off!)  I have an idea for how it could be a fun border for this future quilt.

 

 When Anita visited our guild in August, she taught the Anita's Arrowhead block, so out came my batik stash again.

If you can't take a workshop with Anita in person, her Craftsy class is the next best thing. And you'll get an e-book version of Rotary Cutting Revolution with the class. That's a great deal!

 

Thanks for visiting. Have fun hopping around the Craft Buds party.

T is for Tina

Another quilt top is done and added to the to-be-quilted pile*. Yesterday I showed you the center of a new pattern coming soon from Anita Grossman Solomon, Anita's Tee. Today, the top is done!

Anita had given me a roll of her Make It Simpler Fusible Interfacing which I used on the center of this quilt. Anita designed it to control bias edges, so I was hoping it would help contain these blocks set on point.  Following the directions on the package, I cut the interfacing strips to the proper width of the quilt and fused them in place. I think you can see that there was some easing to do to control the bias. It worked like a charm! After fusing, the borders went on perfectly. The top is magically flat and square!

The border print from V&Co's Simply Color line was hiding when I pulled fabric for the T's. I found it when I went looking for a border and it couldn't be more perfect.

I couldn't resist adding small paper pieced T's for the corners. Without them, I would have needed to piece the top and bottom borders, which I didn't want to do on this piece. Oh, and I used the fusible interfacing on the edges of these blocks, too. The interfacing strip is 1.5" wide, which was overkill on a 3.5" block, so I cut it in half.

Isn't it fun when your mug coordinates with the quilt you are working on?

The boy leaves for boot camp in 10 days. He doesn't want us to make a big deal out of it. He views it as starting a new job, but we all know it's so much more than that. Nope. Not crying.

Fun Fact: This is my 600th blog post.

*The to-be-quilted (TBQ) pile is getting pretty tall! Is anyone else in the same boat? Would it help if we started a challenge? Do we need rules and prizes?

Sneak Peek

When Anita Grossman Solomon visited Ninigret Quilters last month, she showed us her newest pattern for Anita's Tee. Isn't it awesome? Tessellations make me happy!

The pattern was just sent to Quiltmaker for a future publication. I was lucky enough to get a peek as a "pattern tester." In true Anita style, she has devised an ingenious method for piecing this block.  I've always wanted to make myself a Tee quilt. I drafted it once as a mini paper pieced block, but never actually pieced it. I couldn't wait to get started on this one!

I turned my blocks on point to make the Tees straight.  I used 12 different prints plus Kona Snow for the background. I'm planning to add a couple of borders before quilting this wall hanging for my sea glass-inspired bedroom. (I need to fix that one bad corner at the top of the darker green Tee in the second row from the bottom. It's staring at me!)

 

 

Why am I so fascinated by piles of trimmings? They are just so pretty!

Anita!

 I finally had the opportunity to meet my quilty idol, Anita Grossman Solomon. I'm sure I've mentioned more than a few times how much I love her books. And how I think she's a genius. She has a knack for seeing block construction in new ways.

At Aunt Carrie's, enjoying clam cakes, chowder, fish & chips, and key lime pie.

I was thrilled to spend two short days with Anita when she visited Ninigret Quilters last week. Julia couldn't wait to show Anita the Old Italian quilt she made for Fred. They were so cute together. Anita loved hearing Julia's Girl Scout camp stories over dinner.

I made a few Anita's Arrowhead blocks during the workshop on Wednesday, then went home and made more. And more. And more.  If you don't have the opportunity to take a class from Anita in person, I highly recommend her Craftsy class, Traditional Blocks Made Simple. As a bonus, you'll receive an e-book version of Rotary Cutting Revolution included with the class materials. No joke. It is revolutionary!

I needed a break after three days of arrowheads, so I busted out the striped stash.  

This is the result of just a few hours of work using Anita's technique for making Xcentric and Concentric blocks. Aren't they fun? I must make more!

Random fact: Bill and I both have sisters named Anita.

 

While I was sewing, Bill and Pete went on a canoeing adventure that started on this glassy pond. That was the easy bit. Off in the distance is the entrance to a small river that they hoped to paddle down, but it was blocked by many, many downed trees. They climbed over, snuck under, portaged around, and slowly worked their way downstream. Our 15-year old (now leaky) canoe is being retired.

 

Back to the machine. Will it be more arrowheads or more strips?

Old Italian Quilt

Julia finished the Old Italian quilt for her boyfriend, Fred, on Monday. She did such a great job! We enjoyed the process using Anita Grossman Solomon's techniques from Rotary Cutting Revolution. She can't wait to show the quilt to Anita in a few weeks when she visits Ninigret Quilters!

Most of the prints came from the Big 10" Charm Swap. For the first round, back in May 2012, we swapped manly prints. It was fun (for me!) trying to match up prints that worked well together. 

Julia wanted to maximize the 10" squares to make larger blocks than in Anita's instructions, so we had to tweak the dimensions a little. These blocks finished at 7-3/4". (Julia was not happy with that. She prefers nice round numbers, but we couldn't squeeze another 1/4" out of them.)

The blocks in the center of the quilt incorporate Army prints. 

She used a piece of Army camo for the label. Fred wears a lot of plaid flannel, so that's what she chose for the back. It is one heavy, warm quilt! You can almost see the argyle pattern created on the back from quilting in the ditch.

 

After an 18-hour drive to South Carolina with his family, Julia presented the quilt to her Army boy today during Family Day. Tomorrow is boot camp graduation, then they will head home. While he finishes college and ROTC, Fred will be a musician in the National Guard band.

Congratulations, Fred!

Easter Arrowheads

 Weird title, I know.  These pink Anita's Arrowhead blocks are the closest I can get to a Springy pic today. I think this will become a table runner someday soon.

Let me back up a little. In August 2010, I bought Anita Grossman Solomon's book Rotary Cutting Revolution. I'll say it again. I think she is a quilting genius! Back in 2010, I made my first pancake (Anita's term for the first block that doesn't always come out right, like the first pancake). It was good, but I wasn't excited about making more. I did get excited about playing with stripes and made this. I've been collecting striped fabric ever since.

Fast forward to 2013. I signed up for Anita's Craftsy class called Traditional Blocks Made Simple. I watched all the lessons, and picked up amazing tips along the way. Finally on Friday, I raided my batik stash and started cutting.

In no time at all, I had 4 blocks done!

 More cutting and stitching while watching basketball and I had 12 blocks done by half time of the Florida game. (Go Gators! Senior Erik Murphy lives around the corner from me. His mom came over to pick up some Girl Scout cookies before her last trip to Florida. I look like a Hobbit next to that family. I'm 4'11" and their 3 boys are between 6'8" and 6'11"!)

Saturday morning, I headed back to the batik stash for more. By noon I had the 3 pink blocks done and 10 more blocks started. I'm having so much fun with these blocks! Can you tell?

I think I'll keep going, pulling pairs of batiks from the stash, cutting and sewing until I have enough blocks for a man-sized lap quilt. A friend's husband had a brain tumor removed last week, and we've been praying for his full recovery. He is improving, but has a long road ahead. I hope to have this quilt ready for him when he moves to the rehab facility.

 

I wish you all a blessed Easter!