Why Knot?

   
  I began working on the garlic knot blocks last Spring sometime.  The pattern is also called Arrowhead.   I took my clue  from Bonnie Hunter's column in Quiltmaker.  

  I had tons of 2'' strips already cut, so  it was easy to chop off the 2'' squares needed.   I kept the fabric for the knot in a tonal or more solid appearing fabric.  The center accent squares were picked out of my 2'' squares in the floral stash box.  Then a variety of lights---cream, tan, white and beige were selected to use. 





  I sorted the squares, clipped them together and tossed them into a bowl to work on. 
 I used a 4 patch method for joining my 2'' squares rather than rows as often described for assembling this block. 








  My blocks were 6 1/2'' unfinished.   More than anything I tried to pay attention to the value used..... to have good contrast. 
  My layout was a simple block to block straight setting.  The small trim around the center is a flange of folded 1'' fabric.  It is attached before the border.  It sort of looks like a piping has been added, but it is there for an accent to stop the design.   






  I cut the border  strip 4 1/2'' wide. 

  I like carrying my fabric, color, or bits into the border.   The border strips are cut in half, and the extra fabric strips are added between them sections.   I like the fact that the joining seams are part of the design in this method.  (Rather than cutting the border strip and joining on the diagonal.)   In this full photo you can see the different lengths that happen in the border sections. 










 The garlic knot block turned into the "Why Knot?" quilt.  The play on words is a private joke from my youth.
  the quilting is an overall swirling design that I tend to use all the time. 
   The finish quilt size is 55'' by 67''.

Happy stitching. 

A book and a quilt

   I recently re-watched all of the Bletchley Circle programs.   There were only 2 seasons about the girls who were code breakers for England during WWII, but I found it well written and the puzzle solving intrigued me.   Supposedly there is another series and version with 2 of the girls in the US, but I have not seen it yet.

  So recently, I have had my eyes glued to the pages of a book I picked up  at Mr. K's Bookstore.    The Code Girls had me hooked two pages into the introduction.  Just the comparative details of the the 1940's social setting on women and education were eye opening history for me......and then Pearl Harbor happened.
   The male view in that war era comes across when the  government begins to look for  and recruited  "women who like puzzles and are not currently engaged."     Much of what the women of my mother's generation faced before the war was still evident in the 1960's when I came of age.    Other points are quite telling, but I am not here to be on a soapbox.   They were recruited to be code breakers for all the bit of messages and signal traffic of the enemies, to figure out the patterns and details.  To make sense of it all.  Intriguing to me this is.
   Just to say, I have traveled back in time a bit and found a new set of super heroes to admired.   These women, girls really,  made a difference, and saved lives.  I am enjoying the read  so far.




Oh, yes, then the quilting.  I have a finish!
   Those tasty garlic knots have been bound and ready for a label.  It is very windy, quite cold for me, outside, so an inside photo for now.  I will get a better photo when it warms up.
   I added that narrow flange strip for accent before the simple border.   And the binding is leftover strips for a scrappy binding to wrap it all up. 

  The Chandelier Bead blocks are stitched up into a top.  That will be my next project to get quilted when I find a backing. 

I am still stitching together squares for a border on the Jewel Box Star quilt, and then there are blocks for the Scrappy Trips to be sewn.  I have decided to not start another project as these three can keep me occupied.   Another project would just over-whelm me. 

  I am in the midst of those awful, invasive, so-called required tests, and procedures that come around annually.  I  think I will opt out/cop out/just say no next year.  Five appointments in 3 weeks is just too much. 
Stay warm everyone, and happy stitching. 

A Little Knot

  I had 6 blocks that did not get put into my large Garlic Knot top.  I thought they would be a good table topper.....A Little Knot.

   Before binding, I was just a little disappointed at how plain it seemed.  I debated on applique in the border or even adding additional borders.  I went ahead an quilted it up and then had the light bulb moment for the binding. 











 A cute flange binding would give this one a pop of extra color and hopefully improve it after all.  So the blue fabric became the flange and a floral print is the outer binding.







   A Little Knot is 18'' by 24''.


Now I am more motivated to get the large Garlic knot pinned and quilted.  I need to piece up some backing.....that always slows me down for some reason. 

  The water color wreath wall hanging is under the needle already.  I have the center section quilted and just need to do up the border. 
Then on to bigger things.

Happy stitching. 

Returning to regular programming....

  Sorry for the absence of a few weeks, although I have been reading and following most blogs.
    I have been dealing with blood pressure drops that leave me completely wiped out and exhausted.   My system is very sensitive to any change, and nerve pathways to the brain and organs do not always function as they should.  This is just part of the Pernicious Anemia condition.   The medication adjustment made by the doctor last month we thought would take care of it, but  the condition quickly returned.  Cutting pills in half just doesn't work because nothing is consistent.  So finally the wonderful pharmacist joined in and we hope her suggestion will work. 



  With that said, the sewing room has been visited very sporadically.   I would go in there and stare at the garlic knot top and knew it needed more.  A border or edge to finish it off.  Why work on blocks and then just stop with nothing to frame it.  Finally over the weekend, I decided on adding a flange band and then a simple border. 

  I really like how this ended up.....and it will move on to the "needs to be pinned" stack for now.

  About a month ago I talked about doing a spider web string quilt after a guild program presented one.  I had the big idea of making my own foundation papers from newsprint....etc.  Well, I am working on it, but got some help from  Missouri Star  and the Wacky Web set.   Thanks, Vicki, for commenting about this last time.  It has made life easier.   Plus I caught it on special :)



We have finally figured out what has been making a mess on our deck.....leaving deposits too.  Coyotes have moved into the wooded area nearby making nightly raids  in our yard.  They are way too close to the house and we have started leaving the lights on out back.  Also we have sprayed bleach mixture around the steps and by the workshop.   I believe they caught the nesting birds, Flickers, by the side walk.  The bunnies have disappeared, and so have the chipmunks. 
  We got lax for a few days and thought they were gone.  This morning Sir Old Man found the remains of a squirrel by the side door, and other remains near the shop.   So back to protecting our space.   They can have the woods, just avoid my house. 
   It will probably only get worse as more development is moving out our way.  The golf course has closed and big developers are sniffing around.  I may need to move to a mountain top......no, then I would have to face bears too.  LOL.
Happy stitching. 

Layouts

  After messing around/playing with settings to fix the comment problem with the home grown fix from Amity Quilter post,  I was glad to get to the sewing room. Pat is our home grown, genius quilter/blogger to have found and shared this fix.  And we are all happy!

   In the sewing room......it was bitter sweet to put together the last, the very last garlic knot block that I had in the rope bowl.    The blocks have been in the processing line for a couple of months and I was addicted to pairing them up.  I had developed a system for assembly to keep things straight, and to stitch up a couple of leader/ender 4 patches in the process.





   And now to get a look at the design wall.....colorful knots of scrappy goodness!   I have one more row to sew into the 4 block unit to add to the wall.

   Then on to the joining and pressing to decide on borders or not.











   I had an email  from Lesley who has found my blog and begun a strip pieced water color creation.  She was wanting a layout to create a heart design.  I had to really go back thru the photo files to find my original heart.  This was from 2003 I believe.  I cringe now when I see it....so many things I could have changed, but that is how we develop .

  Anyway, I can see how the layout happens, but was not sure anyone else could.  I turned to EQ7 to set up a layout design to follow.



 The layout is based upon HST block with a light side and a dark side, much like a log cabin block that is half light and half dark.  This will mimic the strip pieced watercolor block, like in this photo.

 
   Here is the guide to layout the blocks for creating a heart  using a 6 block by 6 block design.  You can see that an extra 2 blocks in the center area are needed.  These need to be all light to medium with no dark.

 
   Enough for today.....I have goodies in the mail.  Can't wait to see them.
Happy stitching!

Of knots and strings

Spider web by Duane Walker

  Once again I got inspired to do something with my over abundant strings.    This quilt was made by Daune Walker  who was our featured speaker at guild this month.  It has a very vintage feel, in part due to the black and white prints, I think.   It has been ages since I did a spiderweb quilt, so I wanted to test her technique.

  I did a quick search on Pinterest for spider web blocks and quilts.  At  Quilterscache  I found the style block she used....in a different size.    And at Quiltville,  I found Bonnie's technique for the block, again in a different size.    The difference in the two versions, other than the size, is how the blocks are joined. 

  My test block parts.....I used a 12'' foundation paper for the web units.   First, I am not a fan of piecing on paper, but it really is necessary for this to keep things from warping and stretching.   Secondly, the paper triangle becomes your pattern for trimming up. 
 What I really hated was joining the two halves to form the block.  Note:  The paper was removed before joining, which made it worse.  So much movement on those bias edges. 
    So this size on tissue weight paper is not for me.  I would be lucky to finish up enough to make a table runner. 

  The next test will be a smaller size and use newsprint paper from a doodle pad.  And I am going to join them together a la Bonnie's method to form the "star" shape in the block. 
 

  In the meantime------

 Things are growing on the design wall.  I began putting blocks together into 4 patch units.  My garlic knot blocks are 6 1/2'',   And I love the variety.  I still have a small basket of them to sew together and another 30 or so ready to be joined in 4 patch units. 

  Summer heat is here all at once.  The featherweight is set up and I have plenty to sew on.  By the way....has anyone seen this table for the featherweight?     It is so tempting, if I could figure out a spot to set it up.  It would be nice to have a flat surface.    Happy stitching.