Blue Exquisite, Continued

It's so nice to get back into the sewing studio and play with fabric. I sewed all the blocks together into rows, then sewed the rows to the rest of the flimsy, so it is complete. Whee!

I've got the backing fabrics all washed and ironed, ready to assemble. I'm done for the day, however. My back hurts and it's time for me to give it a rest.

Fifteen Rows

I've got fifteen rows done on the Blue Exquisite Quilt. I need 23.  As you can see, I've sprinkled colors throughout the blue.

I've also placed a few rainbow stars around the quilt. I am making this quilt for my friend, R, who was visiting over the Thanksgiving Holiday, and helped me trim the blocks.  She is delighted with the quilt so far. I am too.

When It Rains & Blows

I got home from work early on Monday. The governor declared a state of emergency, so all workers were asked to get home safely before the weather got really bad. My area was not hit directly by hurricane Sandy, but we were expected to lose electricity at some point during the night due to the high winds. 

Not wanting to risk damage to the computer electronics in my sewing machine, I settled myself down and trimmed some of these Exquisite blocks. It's profoundly boring work, which is why I don't make quilts like this very often and then only for people I love. This one is going to my dear friend R, who considers me her "Chosen Mother." She specifically asked for this design, in blue.

 This photo was taken while standing on a stool looking down at the first seven rows of the quilt. (There will be 23 rows in all.) Sharp eyed viewers will notice I have used a variety of WOWs and I have occasionally inserted fabrics other than blue.

We all know I don't follow rules real well.

WGO (What's Going On)

I view cooking as simply another creative act, so I consider this:

an achievement.

 It's my bread (very like a Challah bread) with the addition of fontina cheese and finely chopped chives, Instead of sprinkling the loaves with sesame seeds, here I've used grated Parmesan cheese.  As you can see I've helped myself already. I made my favorite sandwich, a BLT with this bread for lunch. I did, however, go the luxury route and added slices of fresh avocado.  Yum.

Then I went into the sewing studio and sewed up some of these:

How are you keeping yourself occupied this weekend?

All You Have To Do...

is make 399 squares with two opposing corner triangles, 80 squares with triangles on one corner and four blank white squares, trim them up and sew them together.

All.

Yeah, that's it.



I spent four days sacked out on the couch sick with a summer cold. Bleh.

An Exquisite Tute

OK quilt fans, here's a tutorial on making the Exquisite, wonky style.  What's an Exquisite?

You start by cutting squares of whatever color you want for the "background." Here it is white.

This particular quilt is going to be gigantic, so there are over 700 4-1/2" white squares. The baby quilt (above had squares that started about 4"). Next, you need to cut some triangles, or use scraps. The quilt I am making now is blue and white, so lots and lots of blue triangles.

I just cut a lot of 4-1/2" squares and then sliced them diagonally. (I stacked about 6 layers of fabric for this.)

Then sew the triangles to the squares.

You have to make sure that when you fold it over, the colored piece covers the white square.

Then you trim. This part is tedious. I suggest "watching" TV at the same time.

Next you trim away the excess BACKGROUND fabric (the white).

Ta-Da!

When you have as many blocks as you need, sew them up

Have fun!

Exquisite, Indeed

I always like to take a picture of a quilt and the person I make it for. This is Devon with the "Exquisite".



I'm home now. I'll resume working on the Quick Brown Fox and other little projects. I've got a private swap going on with Helen, and I'm going to have a little fun.

Blogger's Fall Quilt Festival

I made this Exquisite Star Quilt for my godson, who was born last month.

It's a version of the Shooting Star, inspired by Gwen Marston.

The finished block size is 3", and I made it from my scraps. There are 14 rows of 12 blocks each.

You can click the photos to enlarge.

Exquisite, Finished

The Exquisite Quilt is all finished. My son took this picture of me holding it, with Gina's wonderful quilt from DQS5 in the background. This quilt is for my godchild, who is due in September.
It finishes out at 39-1/2" x 44-1/2". You can click the photos to enlarge.


(It's not very bright out, so the colors might appear duller than they really are. I'll try again later, but I am sure the Sun has its own plans.)The Sun came out and brought the Wind with him!

In The Corner

Sara, I got to a corner on my quilt last night. I got out my camera and took pictures, just for you.

Alas, except for this one, they were all out of focus. Sorry!

One corner left, and I won't get to it until the weekend.

Binding the Exquisite

I've added the binding to my Exquisite quilt. I sew the binding on the front using a blindstitch. Because I have arthritis in my right hand, I can only sew about 30" a day. It will take me a few sessions to finish.

I've read many blogs where quilters do their handsewing on the back of the quilt. I was giving a quilting demo many years ago and an older lady examined my quilts thoroughly. She asked where did I handsew the bindings, on the front or the back? I replied that I did it on the back so nobody could see my stitches.

"Well," she said, "I can't see any stitches anywhere."

Ever since then I have been doing the stitching on the front.

Exquisite, Quilted

My Exquisite quilt is back from the quilter, Chris. She quilted it in a variegated yellow thread in an allover pattern.
I got home from work, and tossed the quilt on the neighbor's fence to take these pictures. It was cloudy, so the quilting shows up nicely. I'll post a picture of the entire quilt when it is bound and finished.

You can click the photos to enlarge.

Exquisite, Indeed

The top is finished. Whee! I really like this.The backing will be both of these blues, but the binding will be white.
Here's the other blue.As you can see, Millie approves.

Nine Rows

Nine rows. The finished quilt will have 14.

As I was taking the picture, I realized a couple of blocks are water stained, so I will be fixing those over the weekend.

5 Rows

Here are five rows of my Exquisite blocks.
Here's a closer view.
I like this a lot.

4:00 AM Quilt Project

I finished sewing all the blocks from the 4 AM Quilt project. I've got 7 of 14 rows trimmed.

I would have had more of them trimmed were it not for an emergency trip to the office to give one of my servers a nudge. It had gotten stuck during the weekly automatic reboot and the remote management company called to alert me.

The 4:00 AM Project

This is 24 of the blocks I made yesterday as part of the 4 AM project. They will finish out at 3" square, and they will become a baby quilt, about 36" x 40". I have about half the blocks finished. Hopefully I can finish the rest today.

Why, you ask, was I awake at 4 AM in the first place? Hot flashes. Those of you who have experienced them know that's all I need to say.

Did You Ever...

Wake up at 4 AM and realize the plans you had for one quilt project were much better suited for another one? And then you can't get to sleep because all of a sudden that something that was bothering you is now DEMANDING ATTENTION!So you get up and head to the sewing room and started?
Well, that's my day so far today.