DESIGN WALL MONDAY -
Check out all of us who link up with Judy L. -
At Patchwork Times on Mondays.
We have some awesome stuff on our walls!
Well, THEY do - ME - not so much sometimes - ;))
===
On my wall today -
My Thanksgiving Sudoku -
After finishing the tops for my June Wedding - July Americana - and Halloween Sudoku Quilts -
I was on a roll -
And had one more Sudoku Quilt already "cut and kitted" - ;))
A while back I developed a little system to "chain-piece" these puppies -
So it didn't take me long to make all of the 9-patches -
And put them on the wall - ;))
Today I plan to add the sashing - cornerstones - and borders - ;))
Tomorrow is the first day of September -
New month -
New beginning -
And the perfect time to switch gears - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
I decided to go with the orange with black spiders -
It definitely said "Halloween" -
And went well with the fabrics in the center portion of the quilt - ;))
The size of the fat quarter determined the width of the borders -
And I won't bore you with the MATH -
That dreaded four-letter word -
But I measured and cut from the short end of the fat quarter -
Leaving a strip on the selvage edge to use for the corner squares -
Then cut four strips for the sides and top and bottom -
Leaving an extra bit for the scrap bin -
I added black sashing strips to the ends of the borders -
Laid the side borders out to check the fit -
And cut the corner squares - ;))
After adding the side borders -
I sewed the corner squares to the top and bottom borders -
Sewed them on -
And got this -
Ta Dah! - ;))
Here's a close-up of the top left corner -
It's not exactly like the one Judy Sisneros uses in her book -
"9-Patch Pizzazz" - (c) 2006 - C&T Publishing, Inc. -
Because I had to tweak it to work with a sashing/cornerstone configuration -
As opposed to a simple inner border -
But I think it worked out pretty well - ;))
Not bad for making it up as I went along, huh? - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
I decided that if I use the border/corner technique -
That Judy Sisneros suggests in her book -
"9-Patch Pizzazz" - (c) 2006 - C&T Publishing, Inc. -
That I could maybe get away with using a fat quarter for the border -
So I dug through my stash -
And pulled some possibilities -
And put them up on the design wall - ;))
Decided I didn't like the gray -
Took it off -
And moved the one on the far right to the bottom -
And switched out the one on the left - ;))
Close-up of the new one on the left -
One of the Sudoku nine -
A medium orange -
Obviously goes with the other fabrics - ;))
Close-up of the top one -
Darker orange with cute spiders -
Definitely says "Halloween" - ;))
Close-up of the one on the right -
Nice orange pumpkins with gold highlights -
Though maybe more suitable for Thanksgiving - ;))
Close-up of the one on the bottom -
It really is more "orange" than "yellow" -
A possible maybe - ;))
Close-up of the first one that was on the left -
Before I switched it out -
A pretty and elegant looking spiderweb with a touch of green - ;))
And then there's the stack of other possibilities - ;))
On my last post - Gerda suggested that I try a lighter "beige" border -
So I dug out a couple of those to audition as well - ;))
The one on the left is pretty light -
A "beige" on white -
Which is difficult to photograph - ;))
The one on the right is more "beige" -
And just as difficult to see - :))
So what do you think about the ones on the wall so far? - ;))
I'm kinda leaning toward the "top" one -
The orange with black spiders -
It definitely says "Halloween" -
And besides - what else am I going to use it for? - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
I got the Halloween Sudoku blocks together - ;))
And since it was already "cut and kitted" -
I had already chosen the side border strip -
I figured that I could trim it up and cut it in half for the left and right sides -
And I had already chosen the top border strip -
I figured that I could trim that up and cut it in half for the top/bottom borders -
But it's too short - so I'll need some cornerstones - ;))
I got the center done and put it all up on the design wall -
And I don't like it -
It's too busy -
And just doesn't look right -
So now it's back to the drawing board - ;))
Since I've already used orange in the cornerstones -
And black in the sashing -
What's left for the border?? -
More black?? - ;))
I only need about 1/3 yard - but that is more than a fat quarter -
So I need to check the yardage in my stash - ;))
I have some black with white dots that might work -
And I have some darker orange tone-one-tone - ;))
Any ideas?? -
I'm open to any and all suggestions - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
Got the borders on the July Americana Sudoku -
Ta Dah!! - ;))
Here's close-up of the border fabric -
Flags, flags, and more flags - ;))
Next up - the Halloween Sudoku -
All "cut and kitted" - ready to go - ;))
Gotta love the ones already "cut and kitted" -
Gonna have to make me some more of those - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
DESIGN WALL MONDAY -
Check out all of us who link up with Judy L. -
At Patchwork Times on Mondays.
We have some awesome stuff on our walls!
Well, THEY do - ME - not so much sometimes - ;))
===
On my wall today -
My July Americana Sudoku -
I didn't quite make it for the Fourth of July -
But Labor Day is coming -
So I figured that I might as well play with it -
Especially since it was already "cut and kitted" -
And the tutorial is still fresh in my mind -
From finishing up my June Wedding Sudoku last week - ;))
It's just a giant 9-patch of 9-patches -
(The little white bits in the middle of each block are labels with the block number -
so I don't get them mixed up and mess up the "solution") -
And since I like to add the sashing and cornerstones as I go along -
All I have to do now is add them to the top of blocks #1 - #2 - and #3 -
And to the left side of blocks #1 - #4 - and #7 -
Adding the extra cornerstone in the left top corner -
To either the top or side sashing strip for block #1 -
Whichever one I decide to sew on last -
Then put it together like a giant 9-patch and add the borders - ;))
I had forgotten how fun these little buggers are -
So I may even dig out the "kit" for Halloween -
While I'm in the mood to play with some Sudoku Quilts - ;))
Have you tried one yet? - ;))
They really ARE fun -
And my two-part tutorial can be found on the page/tab -
Sudoku Quilts - at the top of my blog - ;))
Go ahead - I dare you - haha -
I bet you can't make just one - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
Have you ever had to check your OWN tutorial -
To see how you made something?? - ;))
Well, I had to check mine to finish this -
My June Wedding Sudoku -
Because I had forgotten how to put it together - ;))
Good grief!! -
It's not like I haven't made a few - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
So last time I showed you this -
I cut the strips for the inner border -
From a really pretty white-on-white -
But when I trimmed off the selvages -
And put the strips on the wall -
They came up SHORT - ;))
Don't you love it when your quilt talks to you? - ;))
I think mine was saying -
"Nope - not that one!! - Try something else!!" - ;))
So I put some of the charm squares back up on the wall -
Chose one -
Cut the strips -
Made the borders -
And - instead of running out of bobbin thread an inch BEFORE the end of the seam -
I actually had about four inches of bobbin thread left at the end - ;))
I took that as a good sign -
Until I laid them out -
And scared myself - ;))
The right side lined up nicely -
But one border was off by about 1/2" on the left side - ;))
Then I realized that I had "scooched" it over a little when I laid them out -
And that it wasn't short at all - ;))
WHEW!! - ;))
So - a bit more sewing -
And Voila!! - ;))
I know my photos don't enlarge when you click on them -
So here are a couple of close-ups -
For your viewing pleasure - haha - ;))
I like it -
What do you think? - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
DESIGN WALL MONDAY -
Check out all of us who link up with Judy L. -
At Patchwork Times on Mondays.
We have some awesome stuff on our walls!
Well, THEY do - ME - not so much sometimes - ;))
===
On my wall today -
I finally got around to auditioning border fabrics -
After a month of personal "stuff" -
Most of which would bore you -
So I won't go into it here -
Except for the water leak -
That was a doozy - ;))
One day I reached under the bathroom sink to get a clean hand towel -
And the whole stack of hand towels and washcloths was WET -
And some of them were GROSS with black mold -
EEEWWW!!!
AND the stack of old/extra bath towels behind them was sopping WET -
EEEWWW!!!
Called the plumber and he replaced some stuff - ;))
I had noticed that the plunger thingy had broken -
But figured it just came "unhooked" -
Didn't realize that it had corroded and broken off -
Until I emptied out the towels and found the pieces - ;))
Seems that the water wasn't going down the drain -
It was coming out of the hole in the back of the one pipe - ;))
Good thing the old towels were there to soak up all of the water -
So the damage to the cabinet is minimal -
But that pretty much tells you how the month of July went for me - ;))
Now it's the middle of August!! -
My how time flies -
Whether you are having fun or not - ;))
Anyway - back to the quilty stuff -
One week I made another "I Spy" baby quilt for a neighbor's daughter -
It's a "cheater" panel -
So all I had to do was quilt in the ditch around the hexagons and the borders -
And add a binding - ;))
Here are some close-ups of the front and back - ;))
Then I pulled a charm pack of some fabrics that I had -
Samples of yardage in my stash -
And pinned them to the wall -
Trying to match colors in the piece -
And decided on the reddish one -
Not an exact match -
But close enough - I thought -
And then the next morning -
I didn't like it -
So I took it off and tossed the strips in my "String" box - ;))
I really wanted a dark purple to be the outer border -
But don't have that particular shade in my stash -
So chose a navy blue -
To echo the darker stripes in the piece -
Cut those -
And added some "focus" fabric squares for the corners -
Then I realized that the navy blue in the piece was outlined in white -
So maybe the inner border should be white -
But the light purple looks good, too - ;))
Question(s) -
How do YOU audition border fabrics? -
And how do YOU decide which one to use??
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
