A New Clarissa Block

Clarissa #18

Clarissa is my hourglass leader-ender challenge that started with the quiltalong last summer at Quiltville. There is a new leader-ender challenge for this year, but I'm still working on this one. This project is inspired by a quilt from the 1800's made by Clarissa White Alford - see the quilt here. I just finished block #18.

And here are all the blocks on the design wall. There are tons of little scraps in these blocks!  I try to make each block a little different from all the others.
My friend Cathy who blogs over at Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting is also making a Clarissa quilt and you can see some of her blocks here.
Hop over to the link up at Oh Scrap!

Clarissa is on the design wall!

This is block #17 made for my version of the Clarissa quilt. I wanted to include more of the dotted butterscotch fabric in the quilt since it does seem to draw attention to itself when all the blocks are together. The key to dealing with "attention seeking" fabrics is to sprinkle more of them around the quilt. 

This block collection has outgrown my design wall, so I just put up a few more blocks to surround this new one. You can see the first 16 blocks here.

I think I'll make 3 more blocks for this quilt for a total of 20, with a layout of 4 across and 5 down.

To see more quilts being designed, hop over to Small Quilts.

Clarissa is on the Design Wall!

Block #16 for the Clarissa quilt is finished. Because this is a leader-ender project, some blocks are made quickly and others take a while depending on how much piecing I'm doing. This block progressed faster once the machine quilting on the Bear quilt was finished. This block has a darker pinwheel centre, with a light teal and white inner border, followed by a darker outside border. I think the outside border has 4 different brown scraps... plus my favourite plaid.
Here are all the blocks on the design wall.
Yummalicious!

























Total number of pieces in this quilt so far = 2,304!!

It is so exciting to have another quiltmaker inspired by the original Clarissa quilt. Cathy who blogs at Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting is making these hourglass blocks too - click here to see her blocks.

Linking up to Design Wall Monday over at Small Quilts.

Design Wall Monday

Clarissa is on the design wall this morning.
This is block #15.
I try to make each block a little bit different and I like how a few well placed hourglass blocks give this one a diagonal emphasis.

Here are all the blocks together on the design wall. I wanted to see what they would look like all smushed together with no sashing space.
I miss the sashing space!
I think my goal is to make 5 more blocks.
Total # of pieces = 2,160
To see more design walls, hop over to the link up at Small Quilts.

Clarissa Design Wall

Clarissa block #14

I have been away and missed my regular design wall posting yesterday, so here it is today. Clarissa is on the design wall!
This is block #14 and is quite pale compared to most of the others. I think it will provide a some contrast and interest in the overall quilt. The dark brown and the Sweetwater text fabrics were both given to me by my friend Debby. They are from her Aunt's stash of fabric, which she recently inherited. I promised her they would be put to good use and here they are already in a block! 

This is my Clarissa block collection so far.

Total number of pieces in the quilt blocks so far = 2,016

To see more design wall postings this week, hop over to the link up at Small Quilts.

Clarissa #13

Clarissa block #13

This is the next block to join the Clarissa block collection (you can see the other blocks here).

This one has more dark red triangles than the other blocks. The project seemed to need this kind of a block.
I like the unique (inspired by a mistake) corner hourglass blocks with 3 dark triangles and 1 light.

This is how block #13 looks from the back. I have tried many ways to press the seams as I made each block, and have settled on this as the best so far. My favourite thing is spinning the centre seams on the hourglass blocks to make them lay nice and flat.
Total number of pieces in the quilt so far is 1,872!

Clarissa is on the Design Wall

Here is the 12th block for my "Clarissa was a Superstar" quilt. There are 36 hourglass blocks in one 12" Clarissa block. This one is really scrappy and used up a lot of small pieces. Up close the block really is a bit of a scrappy mishmash, but far away, it's fantastic!





Here are all 12 blocks on the design wall. 
Total # of triangles = 1,728!
I wasn't sure how many blocks the quilt would be when I started this leader-ender hourglass challenge. I'm still not certain, but I do know it will be more than 12, because I'm still having fun and want to keep going with this project. The original Clarissa quilt has 42 blocks! That's probably not going to happen, but 20 blocks is looking like a reasonable goal at the moment. 
To see more design wall posts, hop over to Patchwork Times. So sad to read that Judy has discontinued Design Wall Mondays. This has been a part of my routine for a long time. I looked forward to Monday mornings to see what the quilters were designing each week. Thank you Judy for hosting the fun Monday link up for so many years!

Clarissa is on the design wall

Here is block #11, fresh from the ironing board!
I cut into one of my brother's shirts to get that rich dark brown fabric. It was quite an emotional task to cut into the shirt, but I really do want to use these fabrics in quilts. Right now his shirts sit in a bag in the closet, and that's not what I want. So I took a deep breath and started cutting. 



Here are all 11 of the Clarissa blocks on the design wall.
It's totally intriguing to study the effect of value and how each block looks so different.
I know I say this every time I post a new block, but I LOVE this quilting project!!!

Total number of triangles in these 11 blocks is 1,584!

Linking up to Patchwork Times and Sew Fresh Quilts.

Clarissa is on the design wall

My leader-ender project is growing by one more block this week . This is block #10 for my Clarissa was a Superstar quilt.
I really enjoy playing with value in each of these blocks, trying to make each one just a little different from the others.
Each block is made of 36 hourglass units containing 144 triangles. This is the 10th block, so the project how contains a grand total of 1,440 triangles!
Here are 9 of the blocks on the design wall... the photo just didn't look right with all 10 of them up there!

To see more design wall postings, hop over to Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday - Clarissa

Happy Monday

Happy Monday! 
It's going to snow here today and into tomorrow, and I'm supposed to be speaking tonight at the meeting of the Erin Village Quilters. I hope the driving will be manageable for all of us. I am really looking forward to seeing some of my old friends and meeting some new ones. 



I have been busy sewing scrappy quarter square triangle blocks and have finished my 9th block for the Clarissa was a Superstar quilt. This is my leader-ender challenge project, but I like it so much that it sometimes demands to be the primary project. I remind it that it is a leader-ender project and must wait it's turn to be slowly built in between other quilts! Yes, I do talk out loud in my sewing room, and yes there are interesting conversations between me and my quilts!

Here are the 9 blocks on the design wall... wow I love this project! Total triangle tally is 1,296!

To see more design wall posts, hop over to Patchwork Times.

Clarissa Design Wall

Another Clarissa block is already finished! This block was finished in record time due to all the piecing I've been doing (which means lots of opportunities for leader-ender piecing). 

This is the block centre made of 4 QST blocks. It measures 4.5" and includes one of my favourite plaids.







Here is the growing block with the next round of brown homespun and tiny dot QSTs. It measures 8.5"

The last round of QSTs with an argyle print and a light tan stripe. The finished block measures 12.5"

I really enjoyed working on it, but when I put it on the design wall, it looked quite pale. And when it was put beside all it's friends, well it's a totally blah block.  That's okay... not every block needs to draw attention to itself.

Total triangle tally: 1,152!

To see more design wall posts, hop over to Patchwork Times.

New Clarissa Block

Clarissa was a Superstar is my favourite quilt at the moment! I just love cutting up 1.5" strips using Bonnie Hunter's new Essential Triangle ruler (you can see the ruler in this post). And sewing these hourglass blocks together is so fun.
This is the newly finished block #7.

And here is the collection of blocks so far. Delicious!

For those who like math, each block has 144 triangles, so this quilt project already has more than 1,000 triangles! 
This project was inspired by the Quiltville leader/ender challenge and we have until the summer to finish it. At this rate of making approximately one block a month, I think my quilt will likely be 12 blocks (plus a 2" sashing and border).



Of course, block #8 has already been started. Here is the centre pinwheel block. 

Happy Friday!

My "Clarissa was a Superstar" block collection made a brief appearance on the design wall yesterday. I just had to see how the colours were going to work together (or not!)

I am very happy with how all the colours are playing together with the addition of a dark red (lower left block). I especially like how each block is so different and feel excited about how the next ones will come together. I have many hourglass units made and will have time this weekend to play with some layouts. I'm thinking the next block might be all aqua pieces.

I'm teaching a beading class today, so will be in my happy place all day long! Look for a full report about the class on the Slow Sunday Stitching blog post. Have a great Friday!

Clarissa Update

Agnes Gru

I cannot believe it is Friday!
I haven't written a blog post all week, which is most unusual for me. No blogging usually means not much quilting time, which means I feel quite miserable and depleted by Friday. 
But today is the first Friday Night Sew In of 2017 and I have quilting friends coming over, so very soon I will start to feel much better! You can click here to sign up, or you can just join in wherever you are and make some progress on your sewing projects. 

Block #6 Clarissa

I did finish the 6th block for "Clarissa was a Superstar" quilt. This is my leader ender project for Bonnie Hunter's challenge this year (you can read more about the challenge here). The Clarissa quilt is inspired by a quilt from the 1800s which you can read about here. 
I used the light triangles as the centre pinwheel for this block. I like it and think I'll do more block centres like this one has.
It's funny that whenever I post another Clarissa block that people think I am making HST (half square triangle) blocks. These are not HST blocks, they really are QST (quarter square triangles) which are more commonly called hourglass blocks. They are cut and sewn differently using the Companion Angle ruler, or you could use Bonnie Hunter's new ruler.
Here is how I cut the 1.5" strips to get the 144 quarter square triangles I need for each 12" block. I cut two or four strips together and place the pieces ready to sew by the machine. I have learned that I have to put two pieces through the machine with the dark fabric on top and oriented in this way or else the block just doesn't work out.

This is my machine set up, showing that I am piecing a block for the En Provence mystery quilt. And my Clarissa triangles are sitting on the right side of the machine bed waiting to be a leader/ender between sewing sections of the mystery. I love that it doesn't waste any thread! And I love that I am making progress on 2 quilts at once.
I can't show you all the Clarissa blocks together because En Provence pieces are on the design wall. I can't wait to see all the blocks together and find out if I like the addition of the dark red colour in this block. 

New Clarissa Block

Clarissa block #5

Progress is slowly being made on my "Clarissa was a Superstar" quilt. This is block #5 that was just finished this week. I am sewing these pieces as a leader/ender project between sewing other blocks, so I never really know when I will have enough hourglass units ready to sew into another block. 

Here are all the blocks together on the design wall.

It looks just as wonderful as it did in my mind's eye! I like how the dark/light rounds are working out. But I just noticed that the centre pinwheels are spinning in different directions. I had to go and look at the inspiration quilt by Clarissa White Alford and see that her quilt has all the pinwheels spinning in different directions too... phew! I really didn't want to unpick those centre blocks! I also just noticed that she had some centre blocks where the pinwheel appears to be light surrounded by a darker background, so I'll try to do that in the 6th block.
Hop over to the link up at Sew Fresh Quilts for lots of quilty inspiration.

Hourglass Leader -Ender Update

Clarissa block #4

Clarissa is my primary leader/ender project at the moment. I am making these 12" blocks using hourglass units to reproduce a quilt made by Clarissa White Alford in 1880. You can read more about the original quilt here. 
This is my latest Clarissa block. It has a blue plaid pinwheel in the centre, followed by a butterscotch with white dots round of hourglass blocks, and a light teal with brown circles as the outside round. 

Here are my first 4 Clarissa blocks on the design wall. I like how the value placement is working out but I think I need to add in another colour... maybe a pink or red? I'll keep my eyes open for some fresh scraps to add in!

Clarissa #3

Bonnie Hunter's leader/ender challenge this year is the hourglass block and I have chosen my project to be a reproduction of a quilt from the late 1800s. You can see my photo of the original Clarissa quilt here and learn more about the blocks here.

Here is block #3 fresh off the ironing board. The challenge was issued in mid July and it is now October, and I have just finished three blocks. At the rate of about one block a month, I will be finishing this challenge in 3.5 years! 

I love the quirky centre block with the 4 hourglass units in the middle. See how the letter A pops out? 
Then there is a round of dark turquoise and neutrals, and the outside round is made of dark brown hourglass blocks with neutrals or golds and one with teal. I really enjoy making these block with small 1.5" scrap strips. 

And here are my first three 12" Clarissa blocks. Each block has 144 pieces, for a total of 432 triangles so far!
I like the addition of the gold fabric and plan to look around in the scrap bags for more golds that could be included. I also found a few more scraps I can include that were from a Crossed Canoe mini quilt I made 6 years ago. The scraps are never ending and I am so happy that some are being put to good use in this project.
Are you playing along with the Leader/Ender challenge this year?

Leader-Ender Challenge Update

Bonnie Hunter's Leader-Ender Challenge this year is the hourglass block. I chose to make my own version of a quilt inspired by a quilt from the 1800's made by Clarissa White Alford. You can see the original quilt here and learn more about it here.

I have just finished sewing the second block. Each block is made of 36 hourglass blocks, which I am sewing in a leader-ender fashion.
However, when it comes time to sew the block together, it's a concentrated effort. There are a lot of thick seams to match, and lots of points that I don't want to lose in the seams. I sure do love that blue/teal fabric that has sewing machines on it. I don't have much of it left and will sprinkle the remaining scraps in some of the future blocks.

Here are the first two blocks side by side. I like the ways in which they are the same and yet they are different.

Clarissa block #1 and #2

Design Wall Monday - Clarissa

I'm excited to tell you that my very first Clarissa block is finished and is on the design wall today. This is my project choice for Bonnie Hunter's Hourglass Leader-Ender Challenge for this year. You can read more about the original Clarissa quilt here.

There are 144 triangles making up the 36 hourglass units in this 12" block. There are a lot of scraps sewn into this block including a couple of browns from my civil war reproductions, some teals from a Quiltmaker mystery quilt from 5 years ago, and several pieces from last month's UFO project.
I must say this block was quite a challenge especially at some of the seam joins where there are 8 pieces of fabric trying to squeeze under the needle at the same time and hopefully meeting at the same point! I can't wait to start cutting the triangles for the next Clarissa block.
To see more design wall postings, hop over to Patchwork Times.

Clarissa Block Formations

Clarissa is my new leader-ender hourglass project initiated by Bonnie Hunter's annual challenge. 
First of all, blog reader Vicki told me that you can buy a real pattern for this quilt over at Hoopla. I don't know what the measurements actually are for this pattern, and I am making up my own based on my math (which we all know is seriously flawed, but in a really creative way!)
When I saw the Clarissa quilt, I only took 4 close up shots of the blocks.  Why I didn't take a photo of every single block, I don't know. I'm sure it had something to do with not wanting people to think I am crazy. Which I am!

This week I really studied my photos and the block formations in order to learn what is was that I liked about her block designs. This is what I see:

-each block is made up of 36 hourglass units. 

Clarissa Quilt Block #1

-at the centre of every block is a four patch unit, and some of the centre blocks have a very pronounced pinwheel which is made by altering the value of the fabrics in the hourglass units.


-every once and a while she pops in a high contrast wild fabric, like this polka dot navy fabric.

Clarissa Quilt Block #2

-some of the blocks have definite colour rounds. Here you can see a blue round and a pink round. Also she randomly throws in a different colour, like a white triangle where a pink should be.

Clarissa Quilt Block #3

-the position of the hourglass blocks is usually alternated every other block on every round. You can see it clearly on the middle round where every other block has the dark fabric up/down or left/right. 

-when using a patterned directional fabric (like the striped fabric) she made sure that it went every which way.

Clarissa Quilt Block #4

-she sometimes used similar colours/value and yet made it totally scrappy. Look at the outside round and how many different fabrics there are!

Are you sewing a Clarissa block and/or quilt? Many people commented and emailed that they would like to experiment with this block/quilt design. You will have to either purchase the pattern or make up your own, since due to possible copyright infringement it would not be wise of me to post instructions on how to make this quilt.
If there are enough people making this pattern, I will host an occasional link up so we can see the progress and encourage each other. Let me know!