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. 

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?

Clarissa was a Superstar

That's the name of my new leader-ender project, but I will probably end up calling it "Clarissa". You can read more about the inspiration here. 
I redid the math on the block pieces since the first block I made was too small. I finally got the four patch hourglass blocks to be the size I wanted. 
The plan is to cut out scraps whenever they appear in my sewing room, and to always have a pile of triangles beside my machines to sew at the beginning or ending of every bit of sewing I am doing on my primary projects. The key to being successful with leader-ender projects is being organized, and having all the pieces ready to sew together without any thinking required.

I experimented with different ways of constructing the hourglass units and decided on using the Companion Angle ruler to cut the triangles. (To read Bonnie Hunter's lesson on how to figure out the math click here.)  This ruler is quick and easy to use and gives me an hourglass block that works with this design.
Now I am ready to roll!
Each block needs 36 hourglass units, which means I need to cut 144 triangles to start!

New Leader-Ender Challenge

Everyone knows I am a huge fan of Bonnie Hunter and her revolutionary leader-ender method of making quilts. My leader-ender project for the last 4 years has been the small Alamo Star block and I keep making a few of those every month. Every year Bonnie announces a leader-ender challenge and twice I joined in on her project.
Here is the list that I can remember:
2015 Tumblers (I made a mini version called Tiny Tumble) 
2014 Lozenges
2013 Split 9 Patch
2012 Spools (I am working on my spool quilt layout)
2011 Cheddar BowTies
Bonnie announced the 2016 leader-ender challenge this week and it's the hourglass block. At first I wasn't tempted because I was thinking that I've made so many of those blocks over the years. 
But then... I remembered the Clarissa quilt. 

Clarissa quilt

On the way to the Vermont Quilt festival in the Spring of 2011, I had the opportunity to see an amazing quilt at the Shelburne Museum which became one of my all time favourite quilts. Here it is! I posted about it here and have always thought I would love to make a variation of this quilt. It looks like now is the time to start my own leader-ender Clarissa hourglass quilt.

This quilt was made by Clarissa White Alford and contains 6,048 pieces of fabric!
It was made by a woman who raised 9 children of her own, plus 6 children from her husband's 1st marriage for a total of 15 children. That makes her a total superstar in my opinion!  Can you even imagine her life back in the 1800's??  It is believed that she made the quilt while living in Quebec when in her 80's. It's amazing not only that she survived all those years, after raising all those children, but that she still managed to create a lasting work of art in her last years.

I looked at that quilt a long time in 2011. I was inspired by the story of it and by the beauty and longevity of the quilt. Here is a close up of one of the 42 blocks all made with hourglass units...and hand quilted!
I don't know how many blocks my Clarissa quilt will be, but I started the first one today.

The first block was pieced on my Singer 301 short bed sewing machine named Ethel. The sound of this 301 machine is soft and lovely... it's such a calming pleasure to sew with her!

But look what happened! First of all, because I don't have a pattern and am making this up based on a photo, my math was off (big surprise!) and my first block turned out to be too small. 
And secondly, how did the bottom right hourglass block not work out as planned?!?
Clarissa made everything in life and in quilting look easy, and it's not. I think I'm calling this quilt "Clarissa was a Superstar"!

Scrappy Saturday Leaders and Enders

While sewing this week, I have been very careful to have my leader/ender blocks cut and ready to go.  This is a concept that we have heard a lot about in quilt land and I think we sometimes forget how revolutionary it is. You really can make a whole separate quilt in between sewing blocks for a primary project. Leaders/enders are magical when you really think about it. You just have to be thoughtful and have the project be very organized. Do you have Bonnie's book Adventures with Leaders and Enders? Believe me, you need it!

Here are the leader/ender Alamo stars made this week in between other sewing projects.  Over at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge we are using up our green scraps this month, so each star has some green in it.
The block on the lower right doesn't have as much contrast as I would like, but I left it and am hoping it will add some "interest" in the final quilt. Some fabrics don't translate as well in miniature blocks, but I reminded myself that not every block needs to be high contrast.
Hop over to SoScrappy to see what other quilters are sewing with their green scraps this week.

Scrappy Saturday

Thanks for all the encouragement and suggestions that were offered for my scrappy spools layout last Saturday. I have started to sew the diagonal spool rows and am using my little purple Alamo Star blocks for leader/enders. These are the blocks that were finished this week, which means 16 seams per block x 4 blocks for a total of more than 100 spool seams sewn :) 
To see more purple scrap projects, hop over to SoScrappy.

Scrappy Saturday - Green

I first saw this star block over at Leehaven about 3 years ago. About two years ago I decided to mini size them and made a block 2.25". Now I freely admit that I am addicted to making them! Still!
This week I made a concentrated effort to cut some batik scraps for a few more stars using green as either the background or the star. These are leader/ender blocks and I put them through the machine between sewing seams of other projects, so no thread is wasted.
I am trying to remember to use more dark backgrounds, but seem to have a problem with that. I'll cut more pieces to sew next week with darker backgrounds!
To see more green scrap progress, hop over to SoScrappy.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Purple is the colour of the month over at the Rainbow Challenge. I don't think I use a lot of purple in my quilts, but I sure do seem to have a lot of purple scraps kicking around here!

I've had a fun time sewing purple spool blocks as leader/enders, and so far this month have finished 36 spools. I am sewing them together in sets of 4, so I have 9 purple blocks to add to my growing collection.

And speaking of collections, I thought I should add a couple of purple Carrie Nation blocks to that block collection. 

I must admit to getting bored with these blocks, but I will keep making a few here and there in order to make the quilt larger. Here are the blocks on the design wall. 

Hmmm... I don't know why I skipped pink month with these blocks? I think it does need some pink and some orange, and maybe a bit more green. What do you think?

Hop over to SoScrappy to see more purple projects. 

Design Wall Monday - Spools

On the design wall today is my spool collection, which is over 200 blocks now. This was the leader/ender project over at Quiltville in 2012 - click here for the instructions. If you want to see what other quilters made with their spools, you might want to check out the "spool review" link up post. 
I was a little late in starting my spools, but better late than never, I suppose! Now I am making up for lost time and loving this project. It uses 1.5" scraps, which is the perfect size for the small leftovers that I seem to have in abundance.

I am only sewing these as leader/enders in between other blocks and seams that I am sewing. 

I always have a stack of blocks sitting beside my machine cut out and ready to sew. It is a great way to make a "free" quilt! I learned about this from Bonnie Hunter, and she is writing another book about leaders/enders, which I think is being released this spring.

Each month I focus on sewing up scraps that are the colour of the month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, so we haven't done orange, green, pink or purple months since I started making these spool blocks. I will be adding a lot more to my collection as the year goes on.

To see more design walls, hop over to Patchwork Times.

Last Scrappy Saturday Post for 2013

I have been participating in Angela's scrap challenge since January 2011 and it has been such a great experience!  I am so delighted that she is continuing the challenge into next year!! I have made so many fun blocks, sewn up a ton of scraps and enjoyed the comradery of fellow scrap lovers every Saturday on the scrappy link up party.
For the last few weeks I have been thinking about the Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects that I have worked on over the past year, and have been trying to decide which ones will continue and which ones might need to be finished. 
Here is the list of my scrap challenge projects:

1) Palm Branches 
This block pattern ("Red Herring")is from Kristy at the Quiet Play blog. By the way, Kristy has a fun free BOM starting in January - Sew Kitschy. 
It has been a while since I sewed some palm branch blocks, but I still really like them. They are great for using up really small scraps since the blocks finish at 6" x 7".  I enjoy paper piecing, and am happy to have a regular chance to make one of these blocks.  I would like to add more blocks to this collection, so this project will continue next year. 



2) Carrie Nation 
This project is just "OK" for me. I wouldn't mind finishing this one up in early 2014 since I don't really enjoy piecing them. I don't seem to have 2.5" squares readily available and have sometimes ended up looking for yardage to cut into and that is not really the purpose of this challenge. Also these blocks lack challenge for me and I'd like to do something else, although they do make a great scrappy quilt. So the plan for this one is to make a few more blocks and make it into a finished quilt asap. 


3) Alamo Stars 
OH yah... I love these tiny little star blocks. They are 2.25" and are like little sparkly diamonds. I like how some blocks have the star fabric centers and some have background centers. That was a good decision!  
I sure have used up a lot of tiny batik scraps... and these blocks are a perfect leader/ender project. It is hard to describe why these blocks make me so happy, when I am sewing them and when I am admiring them!!  There are many more finished blocks which I have to find somewhere in my sewing room, and then will take a more recent photo of the whole collection. The Alamo Stars will definitely continue into next year.




4) Pumpkin Seeds 

I started this project to try to improve my applique stitch, and I think  have accomplished that goal. My curves are smoother and my points are pointier, and I think I'm ready to move on to other applique challenges now. But I do want to round out the balance, so this year I will focus on adding more colours that are needed in this quilt. The challenge with this project right now is the goal that I set of making this a true charm quilt and finding different neutral background squares. I think this would be a fun quilt to hand quilt next year... or the year after that!


5) Omigosh 
This is a multi year, long term scrap project. The blocks are tiny and are perfect for using up my 1" scraps. It will continue into 2014 and likely in the years to follow! I am just really getting started on this one.






6) Spools 
What can I say? I love these little scrappy blocks. They will continue next year for sure! Sometimes they are leader/ender blocks and sometimes I just cut and sew them for relaxing fun! I need to get a more recent photo of this block collection too and start to figure out how many more blocks are needed for a bed sized quilt (this one is for ME!) and in which colours.



7) Crumbs
I don't know why, but I seem to have lost interest in this project over the year. There are enough blocks to make a nice size lap quilt for the comfort quilt collection at my guild so maybe it's time to finish this one up.





As I write this blog post I am thinking about how amazing it is that little bits of fabric and time add up to such beauty! 

Each of these projects uses up specific kinds of scraps and participating in this challenge has helped me be more organized and thoughtful about my scrap problem collection (although you wouldn't believe that if you saw my quilting studio!)
Also I am thinking about how much I love each one of these projects. But I also know that it is important to clear out old energy to make room for the new... and we all know how much I love to start new quilting projects! So for 2014, my plan will be to finish up two of these projects (Carrie Nation and Crumbs) and continue with the other five. To see what other scrap challenge quilters are working on at the end of 2013, hop over to the SoScrappy link up.

Spools Link-Up at Quiltville

Last summer Bonnie Hunter over at Quiltville inspired her quilting fans to try the spool block as a leader/ender project - click here for the tutorial. Well, I already had a number of leader/ender projects on the go (like this one and this one) and was able to resist making spool blocks for quite a while. 
But then some of the Rainbow Scrappers started making pretty scrappy spool blocks and showing them every Saturday, until finally I couldn't stand it any more...I had to try one.  

I thought I'd sew just one little block to see what all the fuss was about.

And they were fun! 




Spools are great stashbusters for using small scraps, which I hoard collect. I even have sewn some blocks in a scrappy manner when I don't have enough of one fabric to complete a block. This yellow block has bits from three different yellow fabrics, and from two background light fabrics!

So I was late to the join in on the spool challenge, but still have a fair sized pile of spools to share. Here is my yellow spool collection that I sewed in June. 



I am part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, so when Angela announces the colour of the month, I go to my scrap bin of that colour and start cutting for my spools.
Then over the course of the month, I use the pieces as leader/enders between whatever else I am sewing. It really does work great and no thread is ever wasted!

This is the layout I am leaning towards right now ...four blocks of the same colour sewn together in a 4 patch block, then sewing 4 of those into a large block, then putting them together scrappy style when I have enough.
This week Bonnie is hosting a link up for anyone sewing spools to show their collection, so hop over to the Spool Review and see the amazing spool quilts being created.
A big thanks to Bonnie for yet another great addiction idea!

Scrappy Saturday

My newest leader-ender project is 3" spool blocks. After years of quilt making I have quite a vast  hoard collection of small scraps that are perfect for sewing these blocks.
Here are the yellow spool blocks I have made so far this month (pattern and inspiration by Bonnie Hunter). It is fun to watch them accumulate over the month as I add each one to the top of my design wall!
To see more yellow scrap projects, hop over to SoScrappy.

Scrappy Saturday

Over at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge the blue month is finished. These are the 4 Carrie Nation blocks that I made from blue scraps this month. I was thinking how much I like this fancy block, and when I put them on the design wall, I realized it is just a triple four patch... not fancy at all! DUH!?! 
Funny how it seemed a lot harder to sew when it wasn't just a bunch of 4 patch blocks!
I am making sure to use a variety of backgrounds/neutrals (a la Bonnie Hunter) in each block. 

I also stitched up a few more Alamo Star blocks as my leader/ender project. 
And I cut a lot of scraps to continue making more blocks into June, so blue month will continue for a wee while longer for me! 








This is my storage box with finished stars, clipped pieces for more sewing, and strips for future use.
Hop over to SoScrappy to see more scrap challenge postings.

Leader/Ender Update

 My current leader/ender project is the Alamo Star block. I've been making them since the fall last year. They are so cute and fun to sew, but I must admit that it is tedious work to cut out all the little pieces...17 tiny bits for each block!
When the colour of the month is announced for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I get out my batik scrap box and start cutting more leader/ender blocks to sew. This month is green...so here are the Alamo Star blocks I cut out this week to be leader/enders while I finish sewing my UFO quilt top together - before Tuesday! Have I mentioned lately how much I love these Clover binding clips? They are perfect for holding block pieces together! 
Hop over to SoScrappy to see the green projects being worked on this week.

Scrappy Saturday - Orange

I missed the scrappy saturday posting last week, but this week, I'm on it!  It's the last week for orange, so I finished a couple more orange crumb blocks for my crummy rainbow quilt, bringing the orange total to 19!! I was surprised to note that I now have more orange blocks for this quilt, than any other colour...wierd, since I rarely buy orange fabric! Where are these scraps coming from?!? 

I also finished up a few more leader/ender Alamo stars with my orange batik scraps. In the last 6 months I have sewn more than 60 of these blocks and I still adore them, so I will keep making more.
Wow...that blue one really stands out like a sore thumb! I either need to make more blocks with that blue, or throw that one out.
Hop over to SoScrappy and check out the other orange scrap projects. Wonder what the new colour will be for April!?!?

Design Wall #10 - Alamo Stars

Each month over at the Rainbow Challenge I have been making different coloured Alamo Star blocks and just couldn't resist putting them up on the design wall to see how many blocks I have made so far, and to see how they are going to look together.
So far there are 48 blocks done and they measure 2.25" each.
And I must say... that's a lot of pink! I definitely need to knock it off with the pink and beef up some of the other colours. 
The colour this month is orange, so there will be 10 more blocks with orange coming soon.
I am making these as leader/ender blocks.
If you don't have a leader/ender project, trust me you NEED (at least) one! You save thread, and you are always making a "bonus" quilt in between other projects.

Reading Bonnie's book called Adventures with Leaders and Enders was life changing for my scraps. Each year I am getting a little more organized in terms of knowing what I will use and in what way, as well as how to store the different sizes and types of scraps. 
To see more quilting design walls, hop over to Patchwork Times. 

Treadling scraps on Tuesday

Mary posed a great question on her blog last month...how small is too small? It was quite interesting to read the comments on that post, and the wide ranges of sizes that quilters keep or toss in the garbage. 

I have always been reluctant to part with any scraps, and have adopted many scraps from friends who don't have the same scrap hoarding problem interest as I do. At times I worry that I have caught some kind of rare and untreatable sickness, and at other times I think I must be the luckiest quilter alive to have all these treasures!

I love treadling small scraps into larger pieces and then foundation piecing them onto 3" x 10"  adding machine tape blocks.
Here are my 5 most recently treadled blocks that will join the Coin Collection...yep, that's the quilt's new name!

Pink Crumbs and leaders/enders

I can't believe this is the last pink Saturday link up over at the Rainbow Challenge! I love pink, and haven't even made a dent in the pink scraps! Oh well, pink month will come around again next year!
Where did this month go?!?
I made a few more 6" crumb blocks for my collection.
Do you need inspiration to make some crumb blocks (and to NOT throw out your little scraps?!?)... hop over to Jane's blog and see the three quilts she made all from crumb blocks - so beautiful! I dare you to go see her quilts and then try to resist sewing up a block or two right away! 

I also worked on my leader/ender project and cut more pink scraps for some tiny Alamo stars. Organization is the key to a leader/ender project. If I have blocks cut, I sew them up, and if I don't have anything cut, I use a scrap to start and stop my lines of stitching, and that just wastes thread and accomplishes nothing. 


Well, I guess it does result in a collection of "hairy guys"!
But what good are these things?!?
Why would a sane person even keep them?!?

When I have the 17 pieces cut for a star block, I put a little Clover clip on them so they all stay together. And then I put them in the leader/ender storage box I received from Julie 3 years ago. It keeps everything for this project in the same place...strips to cut, prepared block pieces, and finished blocks.

These are the two pink star blocks I stitched this week...love 'em!

Hop over to SoScrappy and see the other pink scrap projects being sewn.