Thousand Pyramids - The 30 Year Wonder Qluilt

According to my research, the Great Pyramid took about 20 years to build.  This quilt top took about 30 years from concept to last row joined.  Hmmm, maybe not so bad considering there are actually 1,175 pyramids in this charm quilt.

I think there were five of us who did an exchange that took about 18 months.  We had 4 templates (2 people used the same template).  We planned to exchange 10 fabrics a month in a particular color family.  Each of us drew around the templates and cut out the shapes with 1/4" seam allowances for hand piecing., Fifty quilt pieces were made and exchanged each month.  We were loose on the color families - red meant anything from deep burgundy to the lightest pink, blue was navy to pale blue, etc. Colors like rust might fit in either the orange or brown category.

The templates included a half-square triangle which was used by two quilters.  One (our East Coast native) used a clam shell, one shape was a diamond and then there was mine that was a pyramid shape.

I moved cross country during the exchange and found that 10 of the fabric shapes could be sent in a #10 envelope for the price of a first class stamp, so each month, I continued to send my shapes to each of the others and they sent theirs to me.

A little Amish Influence.

All types of fabrics were exchanged.  There are a few that probably  aren't the best quality and maybe should have been left out, but our stashes weren't as big back then.

Christmas fabrics including a fussy cut Christmas bear were exchanged.

Even a vintage Holly Hobby fabric made it into the top. Notice that it is next to an Irish clover leaf.

There is even an "A" for Arnold in the top.

There may be a point or two that need to be "fixed" or maybe they will be left in even if they are slightly off.  Maybe it's more important to have this quilt done and quilted than it is to have it be perfectly pieced after 30 years or so!

One of the neatest things about the fabric is that even though the original exchange was with a small group of dear friends in Iowa, as I was finishing the quilt, I needed more fabric to make it large enough.  Of course, I used some of my newer stash, but I still needed unique fabrics in some colors, so asked two of my dear Arizona friends if they would contribute the colors I needed and they did!  So this quilt includes fabrics from not only over time, but from more friends than the original group.  

Isn't that part of the culture of quilting?  Neighbors exchanged fabrics, friends contributed fabrics to fill a need and relatives shared their stash.  Today just like in the past, these traditions continue and I'm very happy they do, aren't you?

Here's to Quilting Traditions!

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois

Leaders Enders and Leftovers

If you are familiar with Bonnie Hunter and her scrap savers system, you probably know about Leaders and Enders.  She came up with the brilliant plan to use quilt pieces to begin and end rows of stitching rather than putting just a scrap under the presser foot to keep all those thread tails controlled.  It saves thread and the bonus is that parts of another quilt are being put together while you are working on your current project.

Many times I just feed squares through that become either 4-patch or 9-patch units if I don't have a particular Leader Ender project going.  These add up quickly!

This weekend I was playing with some Leaders and Enders along with some Leftovers from a past quilt project that I had made too many units.  I needed a class sample so I started playing first in Electric Quilt and came up with these possibilities using the units I already had on hand - yep, those Leaders Enders and Leftovers.

These were fun to play with!  Do you EQ?

Then I got out the units and laid them out on the floor.  This may not be the final setting.  Nothing is sewn together yet, I just wanted to make sure I liked this as much in fabric as I did in EQ.

So what do you think?  In a matter of minutes, this little wall hanging was laid out.  Yep, it's pretty scrappy, but the dark blue triangles and "stop border" hold it together.  I may still rearrange a few units to balance the colors.  Just a few of the 4-patches and leftover half/square triangles are laying beside it.  There are MANY more waiting to be used in a project.  I think the beginning students will have fun learning how to make this little cutie.

Mostly I have been working on a secret project that I can't show you until it is done, but I have spent a bit of time setting the 1,000 Pyramids 30 Year Wonder Quilt together.  I have only two long seams left and it will be a top.  This photo was taken when I was just starting to set the blocks together. I'll take another photo when the last two seams are sewn and share it with you.

Just the top two rows of blocks had been stitched at this point.  All of the small triangles were hand stitched, but I am sewing the blocks and rows together on the machine. I want this baby done!

Hope you are keeping cool this Summer and having some time to create!

Until next time,

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois

Celtic Solstice and Hexie Progress - slow but sure!

Are you a slow stitcher or a fast one?

Do you get things done really quickly or savor the process?

Do you work on one project until it's done? 

Or are you like me with several things going at once?

Here is where Celtic Solstice is today.  The left portion is all stitched together.  The right portion is webbed and ready for the horizontal rows to be stitched together.

I showed you the first two borders here. The final border is a bright blue.

The pieced border is only stitched into "twosies" at this point.

In addition to Celtic Solstice, my evening hand stitching project is hexies.

When the diamonds are added, they will fit like this.

Of course, I have to add some more neutral to the final points before adding diamonds.  And, I'll have to make 5 more diamonds, too!  I cut more neutral fabric this morning for more hexie variety.

Then, there is the pyramid project that I showed you here.  All of the setting triangles are stitched now, so it is just a matter of sewing the diagonal rows and deciding if a border is needed. 

I need to take a photo of the pyramids now that all of the setting triangles are done.

So which are you? Fast, Slow, one project at a time or working on many projects?  I'd love to know so leave a comment below.

Until next time,

XOXOxoxoXOXO

Lois

On The Design Wall Now

Hope you all had an excellent Thanksgiving!  We had a house full.  Our number for holidays is always somewhere around 20 with 22 being the minimum.  Sometimes our grand kids bring friends and sometimes our children's in-laws come so it varies from holiday to holiday, but it is always a lot of fun!

Not much went on in the studio most of the week, but I had pulled out a really old UFO after the Vines and Stars came down off the design wall.  I cannot stand for it to be empty!  The UFO began a very long time ago when several of us decided to make a charm quilt.  A charm quilt, if you are not familiar with the term is a quilt that contains only 1 template piece, but repeated in 1,000 different fabrics.  Jo, Joan, Lorinda and Bonnie, remember those days?

We exchanged 10 fabrics each month in a designated color.  The rule was, for instance on red, it could be any variation of red from pink to burgundy and light or dark. We each had all of the templates and drew around them on the fabric, cut them with 1/4" seam allowances and gave them to each other according to the color of the month.  I made a move during that time, so mine were mailed each month.  All 10 pieces would go for a standard 1st class postage stamp.  Obviously, since I am still working on it, mine never got completed.

Here is what it looks like with 976 fabrics.  I do not guarantee that there are no duplicates, but that is still a LOT of different fabrics.  I am still hand piecing the rest of the missing pyramids.

 

 

The contrast is a little weak on the bottom row, so pieces will be moved around.  Each of the larger triangles is made up of 16 smaller triangles.  I have not decided how I will handle the half blocks on the two side edges.  If I piece them, I will need another template that is half of the original triangle or pyramid shape.

 

I have also decided to participate in Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt Celtic Solstice.  I have never done a mystery before, because I really like designing my own quilt and, if you know me well, you know I have a tendency to want to be in control of the design.  Not knowing in advance where I'm going with something is a bit unsettling to me.  Okay, I admit it, I'm a control freak!  There, I said it!  You may all laugh now, because you probably already figured that out.

 

The first clue was given yesterday on Bonnie Hunter's blog.  It will be a challenge to actually follow the rules, but at least I'm going to give it a try. 

 

Here are a few of the clue one pieces made using the Tri-Recs ruler set.

 

 

You can read more about the mystery on Bonnie's blog.  It is not too late to join in on the fun.  I do like the scrappy look of Bonnie's quilts, but usually decide on my own patterns rather than use a predesigned quilt pattern.  The few times I've tried to follow a pattern, I end up changing it so that in the end it does not look like the original.  It's more fun to put a personal touch on anything, don't you think?

 

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!  Stay tuned for more on the progress of the pyramids and the mystery quilt.

 

xoxoXOXOxoxo

 

Lois