Votes For Women is Finally Finished!

Sometimes I wondered whether this day would ever come and here it is... 
drum roll please...

Votes For Women - outdoor photo

Votes For Women is a finished quilt!

Getting the vote for women, and getting this quilt finished both are testaments to the sticktoitiveness! I probably shouldn't even joke about that, since it's not even in the same league of accomplishments at all.
However, did I mention that it did take me 5 years to finish this quilt!?!?

machine quilting photo

The blocks in this quilt were made during a quiltalong hosted by the incomparable Barbara Brackman and started in 2012. All of the prints in her fabric line called Metropolitan Fair are in this quilt, along with many other reproduction prints. A huge thank you to Barbara for the wonderful patterns and delighful fabrics!






There is a ton of machine quilting in this project, all of which was completed on my 22 year old Brother sewing machine. The blocks are free motion quilted, and the sashing was quilted with the walking foot. And every stitch was made using Aurifil thread.




Here is a photo of the backing, which was pieced from leftover chunks of this project and from Circa 2016. I have no idea why that dark square is pieced right there in the middle like that! Must have seemed/seamed like a good idea at the time! I will attach the label near that square since it draws the eye to look there. I'm working on a photo transfer label for this quilt.

This was the best photo from the indoor photo shoot. My quilt holders are reaching as high as they can and were just able to hold it up off the floor, but only if they held it sideways. Oh well, you can see the whole quilt ... just tilt your head to the right!
Finished size: 61" x 83"

QAYG method

My Votes For Women is in 3 quilted sections and is ready to join together into one big quilt. This blog post highlights some of the things I have learned about the technical challenges of using the "Quilt-As-You-Go" method of joining blocks or sections of a quilt together. A few years ago I took a fabulous QAYG class with Martha Schellingerhoud and she showed us 3 methods of joining the quilted sections by hand and/or by machine. This blogpost is not meant to be a tutorial for the technique, I am just sharing some tips that I have learned along the way. You can click here for a great step-by-step lesson with photos. I am not using the exact same joining method as shown in this link, but it's similar. 

1) For this method of joining, I do not quilt near the edge of the sections. I give myself at least 1" between any quilting and the edge of the quilt. See where the screw driver is pointing to? That is as far as I quilt until after the sections are joined.  Believe me, it will just be easier to handle if you join the sections the way I am with this quilt.



2) Trim all sections carefully - the backing, and the quilt top should all be exactly the same size. The batting will be trimmed 1/4" more by hand once the sections are joined. 




3) To join the quilted sections together, use lots of pins. You are joining two sections with right sides together and are only sewing the quilt top edges together. 
Pin the edges together and then pin the batting back and out of the way so you don't sew it accidentally. Pin more. Don't even attempt to join two large sections without pinning it to death. And then add 2 more pins! I guarantee that you will not be happy with how everything lines up (or not!) if you don't use all the pins you own.

4) Once the sections are attached, I lay the whole thing out on the table and trim any excess batting between the sections with scissors, being very very careful not to cut any fabric. I trim the batting in a slightly wavy line, which I like to think prevents the join from being too visible. I'm not sure if it effectively does that or not, but it's what I do. Then I hand stitch the batting together using a ladder stitch. When all of these steps are done well, the batting will lie flush and flat, with no gaps along the join.

5) The last step is to fold over at least 1/4" on the edge of one panel and hand stitch/applique it on top of the other panel, just as you would stitch a binding edge. I like to do this by hand so that there are no stitches on the front of the quilt from the join.

6) Once the seams are all finished on the back, then you can add more quilting. I plan to quilt all the horizontal seams from one side of the quilt to the other, which further holds all the batting sections together. And then I'll probably do more quilting... the blocks are heavily quilted, so the sashing will likely need more quilting.

Quilt-as-you-go is a construction method I enjoy since it allows me to do all my own quilting, even on the largest quilts. These are two of my other quilts I have finished using this technique - Swoon, and Scrappy Memories. 

UFO Report

The second Votes For Women panel is quilted! 
This is a 42 block quilt that was a sampler project from Barbara Brackman which started in 2012, and is made from reproduction fabrics. I am quilting it in 3 sections, and this panel is the two columns of blocks which will be on the left side of the quilt. It feels like a big accomplishment since I've been working on it for a few weeks.
The panel looks like it's curved in this long photo, but it's an optical illusion due to leaning on my design wall.
Each of the 14 blocks in this panel was quilted individually. I viewed each block as a mini quilt needing a unique quilt design to be created. I didn't mark any quilting designs, and just tried to create as many continuous curved lines as possible.

By Jessica Hagy

The next task is to piece a backing, prep a batting, then pin baste the third panel. You can see all the panels here. 
It feels like I have crossed a psychological hurdle on finishing this quilt and am stoked to get to work on the last panel. 
Linking up to Sew Fresh Quilts.

New Year's Eve Sewing

There hasn't been much time for quilting this week with all of the Christmas activities and visiting going on. But truthfully, for me there comes a time when there has been too much talking, too many words, too much energy, too much laughter, and too many visits! I reach a point where I really need to get grounded, to experience some peace and quiet, and to hide in my quilt studio to recharge.

Today I get to be in the quilt studio for most of the day!  I am very excited and have big plans for 2 projects to work on. First I want to open up the new book and ruler that my daughter gave me for Christmas! I'm so lucky to have received one of these rulers that are in such high demand. I don't know how she managed to get me one and I'm sure the story will come out eventually, but it seemed quite magical to me that this was under my Christmas tree! 

Today I am making some inaugural blocks for the Quiltville En Provence mystery, using my new Quiltville ruler! I'm following Bonnie's instructions to the 'T' and the quarter square triangle blocks are coming out perfectly!

I thought it would be a little tricky to get the right colours in the correct places using strip piecing, but it was easy peasy! I am two steps behind in working on the mystery quilt, but I'm sure I'll be able to catch up before the release of the next step.

Later today I hope to do some machine quilting on the 2nd panel in my Votes For Women quilt. It was my lofty goal to finish the machine quilting on all 3 panels this month, but that won't happen. 
For today I will be in my happy place, renewing my energy, reflecting on the events of 2016, and dreaming of new adventures for 2017. Happy New Year!

November UFO

Well, I made a lot of progress on my October UFO goal, but whether I reached my goal or not is debatable!

I wanted to get my Votes For Women blocks into a quilt top. I did get the block layout done, and I did get them sewn into 3 sections. I decided to machine quilt the sections separately and then join them in a quilt-as-you-go method.
But I never got going on the quilting part because I got distracted by all the other fun things happening in the sewing studio. It's all good!
So my goal for November will be to get the machine quilting done on the 3 panels. 
Check out the other UFO goals for November over at One Monthly Goal.

UFO Progress

Some progress is being made this month with my "Grandmother's Choice: Votes For Women" UFO. Finally!

I did not fuss around about the layout much. I set a timer for a half hour and gave myself that amount of time to do some block switching. I tried to spread around the blocks with strong colours (gold, greens, reds, etc) and separate them from each other. I also tried to place the applique blocks around evenly. 
Here are the strips hanging on the design wall. There are 6 columns of 8 blocks. I decided to sew three sets of two columns and I will baste and machine quilt them in these sections. It should be totally manageable, right?
Okay... now, I have to decided how to quilt each block!!!

Draw Winner and October's UFO

First of all, I forgot to draw the winner of my 10th anniversary celebration. I finally did that last night while I was washing the Good Neighbours yardage, and the winner is...
comment #98 which is Jackie J!
Congratulations Jackie... your number was picked out of 123 possible winners, so you should probably buy a lottery ticket too while your luck is so good!
On the design wall today is last month's UFO. Sadly it did not see much progress in September, even though there was a lot of brain power and time spent on it. Options were explored, creative layouts looked at, and no decisions were made. I really enjoyed reading all the ideas, suggestions, and creative thoughts shared in the comments when I posted some layout possibilities. I learned a lot and each comment gave me 'food for thought'. I liked all the layouts and just could not decide.
So then I had to delve into "what is the hold up here" and why am I stalling on making this decision?
Lots of brain work going on and NO sewing.
So this month, there shall be sewing!
My decision was finally based on this:
-sending a large quilt out to be long arm quilted is expensive, and I really do want to quilt as many of my quilts as I can
-without adding any more sashing and borders, the sashed blocks in this quilt were just about at the maximum size I can manage on my domestic sewing machine
-but if it looks beautiful with more sashing, then I would not be able to quilt it because it just going to become too big and unruly for me to do so. 
Decision finally made...
in a stern voice I say to myself...
Kathryn just sew it together and make it the size you want it to be and stop trying to make it more complicated for yourself. Stop it! Accept that it is what it is, and believe that it is beautiful enough!

Phew... what a relief to get over that hurdle. Once that cognitive dissonance was gone, progress began immediately. I set up my free standing larger design wall (which is called Cheryl Ann's Design Wall and measures 72" x 72"). It was not big enough to hold all the blocks, but I made it work with some blocks laying on the carpet.
And now the sewing can begin.
My UFO goal for October is to get these blocks sewn into a quilt top. 
To see more design wall postings, hop over to Patchwork Times. And to see more UFO goals, hop over to the One Monthly Goal link up.

Design Wall Monday - UFO

I have been making a bit of progress with this month's UFO. I finished making the one missing block and have the complete set ready to make into a quilt top. 
Except I can't decide on whether to sash or not. So maybe you can help me decide? Hopefully you can get a sense of the choices even with these terrible photos!

Here are some of the sashed blocks set side by side on the design wall. There are 49 blocks altogether which I would make into a square quilt 7 blocks across by 7 blocks down.
With no sashing the quilt would be 84" square. This would be the easiest way to join them together. But does it look too mashed together?

Here is another set of blocks with a black fabric in between the blocks. It would take longer to put in the black sashing, but would it be worth the effort? Does the black frame enhance the look of the quilt? I would probably make the sashing strips 1.5" (cut 2") and that would bring the quilt up to 96". That's a big quilt!

Okay, now here is another set of blocks with a neutral print between the blocks. It gives a whole different look to the quilt.

I am completely undecided and a bit frustrated because I have procrastinated this decision so long, that I won't likely make my goal of turning these blocks into a quilt top by the end of the month. This project will have to slide onto next month's to do list!
To see more design wall postings, hop over to Patchwork Times.

Votes For Women

Since finishing my Civil War quilt sampler last month, I am focusing on my other Barbara Brackman sampler called

Grandmother's Choice - Votes For Women. I decided to divide my blocks into two piles, and border one half in grey paisley, and the other half in raspberry red paisley. This is how it's starting to look...sweet!
I'm very happy with how it is coming together and will continue bordering the remaining blocks. 
I also have to make one more block, since I realized I was missing the last block #49.
  

This quilt sampler was another wonderful project from Barbara Brackman with a weekly history lesson about suffragists. I looked forward to every post and enjoying making each of the blocks...yes, even the applique ones! Now I have to move on and get started on her 2014 sampler called Threads of Memory.
So many quilts... so little time!

Design Wall Monday

I pulled out my Votes For Women blocks this past week, and have been working on sashing all the blocks. About half of them are here on the design wall. 
Somehow I seem to be 2 blocks short but I can't figure out what I am missing. There were 49 blocks posted and I can only find 47. 
I will check back through the posts and see what happened. 
Two blocks are either hiding from me, or were not made!
To see more design wall postings, hop over to Patchwork Times. 

Design Wall Monday - Sampler Blocks

On the design wall today are some of my blocks for the Grandmother's Choice block sampler. This project has been freely provided to blogland quilters by Barbara Brackman and all of the 49 blocks have now been posted. I put a push on to finish up blocks #41-#46. It was fun to figure out how to use up the scraps I have from my reproduction fabrics. I just have to finish the blocks with hand stitching and then I will be ready to put these blocks together into a sampler quilt top... so exciting! Hop over to Patchwork Times to see more design wall projects.

Votes For Women Wednesday

The final Votes For Women block pattern has already been posted. This quilt-along went by way too fast and has been really fun! However Barbara seems to be torturing us by making the last few block patterns with applique and curves!
I will get to work on those because I am almost an expert now! *snort*
I only finished two blocks this week...block #4 which I wrote about in Sunday's post and this one: Block #40 called 'Art Square: Women in a Box'. 
I made my center square a bit more interesting by using a 4 patch block. And inspired by Becky Brown's sample block on the blog post, I cut the triangles on the bias to get the diagonal lines running around the block. Very neat effect if I do say so myself! 
How are you coming along with your blocks? Almost finished? Ready to put them all up on the design wall and celebrate? I'm so close...

Can you teach an old dog new tricks?!?

Photo from See-Creative

I want to like applique, so the only way is to practice and become more efficient.  But is it really possible to teach an old dog new tricks?!?
I read all the wonderful and informative comments on my whiney post last week and am determined to try more of the methods that were described. I loved it when people commiserated with me... especially Kate who said she avoids applique "like the plague"!!! LOL 

I started with one of the Votes For Women blocks that I had previously skipped over because it looked too hard. Now, fueled by determination and information, I made block #4 Kansas Sunflower all by hand! 
And it lays flat! 

And I like it! AND I had fun! 
I especially like how I fussy cut the striped fabric which gives the block a lot of movement and energy.

This was my favorite part...hand piecing all these tiny bits.
It's a win-win situation in hand stitching land!

I hand stitched the 27 center pieces (did I mention that it laid flat?!? woohoo!) and then I stitched together the frame/corners. Then I tried the starch method to iron the edges of the curves under using the tutorial that Dea told me about which you can read over at Sew Mama Sew. 

I enjoyed the process of "painting" the starch on the seam allowances and it seemed to work well, but I had to stretch the frame a bit to make sure I didn't lose the star points.

Here is the block from the back. All the seams are laying so beautifully. I am a little worried about some of the seam allowances being too narrow on the curves.  
But I am definitely one happy camper....or should I say appliquer!!?! This old dog definitely learned some new tricks this week!
What are you hand stitching today? Post a link to your blog post below and share your project with us.

Votes For Women blocks

I have finished a few more blocks for my Votes For Women project and am motivated to get caught up because these 49 block postings from Barbara Brackman will soon be completed. 
I gotta get a move on to catch up!




Here is block #36 Sunbonnet Sue...hand appliqued!!
I think the hat band makes the block look nicer, and if you don't look too closely, it's a nice block! LOL

Here is block #37 called "Nameless Star" but I know it as 'Sawtooth Star', which is one of my favorite blocks to sew. I used one my favorite paisley reproduction prints in the center. Pretty.

Block #38 is called Nonsense: Anatomy Lessons. 
What a funny blog post about the dangers of activity for women...including the "morbid effects" of treadling! I better watch myself when I am sewing on my treadle machine...who knew it was so dangerous! LOL

Block #39 is called Endless Stairs. I used up a lot of little scraps to piece this one.

The next few blocks look like they should be fairly easy to sew. Such fun!

Votes For Women Wednesday

I am stuck on block # 36 of my Votes For Women sampler. 
Why, you ask?
Because it's applique. 

I considered skipping this block, but I really do want a "Sunbonnet Sue" in my quilt. It is such a classic block. 
And I really want to learn to like applique!

Have you ever seen "The Sun Sets on Sunbonnet Sue" quilt??! You can read more about the subversive messages in this quilt, and learn about the significance of this block over at the Quilt Index - click here. 

So... off I go to hand stitch...

Ms. Sunbonnet Sue. 

Looks easy enough ,eh? 
What could go wrong ?!?

Votes For Women Wednesday

Finally! 
Some progress on my Votes For Women block sampler. I was stuck on this block for a while trying to figure out how to sew it (without templates).

Here is Block #34 - Coffee Cup.

I finally decided to foundation piece the bottom half of the block on freezer paper. It worked out well, except that I couldn't get some of the angled background fabrics going the right direction. 


I followed my guideline of making 3 "best effort" attempts, and then leaving it as is.. then I say to myself "I tried my best" and "it is what it is"! And move on!

There were such interesting things to think about in this post written by Barbara Brackman. Who makes the coffee/does the work, and who drinks the coffee/benefits from the efforts? It reminded me of the story of the Little Red Hen that I used to read to my kids.  

I also finished block #35 - "I'm an anti". 
Very easy block... took a fraction of the time that the coffee cup block required!

Votes For Women Wednesday

Last week I mentioned that I was struggling with the Contrary Husband block in the Votes For Women project. First I cut all the diamond angles backwards. Ugh.


I recut all the diamonds and tried to sew them together. 
After bragging about "mastering" the set-in seams for block # 29, I got a quick reality check - this block was not even close to being workable!

A big thanks to Leslie for sharing a link to modified piecing directions. Why didn't I think of that?!? If you didn't think of it either and want to try block #33, click here to go to American Homestead's directions.
Kuddos to Janet who recognized (in her comment on my Votes for Women post last week) that I had purchased a charm pack of Barbara Brackman's Metropolitan Fair .


I used one of the charm squares for the center of this block. Yum! I think I also might need to get more of the paisleys...double yum!
So, here is my successful version (finally!) of block #33.