Mmmwhaah! Quilt Project Part 3 – Creating The X and O Blocks!

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to Part 3 of the Mmmwhaah! Quilt Project!

In part 2, I demo’d how I made the building blocks for the X’s and O’s.  Now it’s time to put those X’s and O’s together!

See this photo below?  See how those building blocks, depending on how they are turned create and X or an O?

That’s what we’ll be doing in today’s lesson…

Ready?

Great!

1. The first thing to do is decide which 4 building blocks you want to use!

Arrange them, turn them around, play with them until you get a combination that is pleasing.  Notice how some of them have the same fabric next to each other?  Yeah, I don’t like that.  So I just keep turning them until I get what I want.

For demonstration purposes I’m going to use these extra YELLOW building blocks, seen below.  Just note to yourself that this pattern makes 4 YELLOW  O blocks and 9 PINK   X blocks!

2.  Now sew the 4 blocks together by first sewing 2 sets of two blocks…

…being careful to match up the seams. (Just a note here…the seams were ‘soft’ pressed in the previous step.  It is at THIS point in the process that you’ll know which way you need to ‘HARD’ press them)  Press them in OPPOSITE directions…

…can you see that here?…look at the two photos below.  The first one shows the seam allowance going DOWN (on the bottom block)…

and the seam allowance on the TOP block needs to be moved over to the other side in order for this seam to match up smoothly…see how I”m moving it over with my thumb?

I pin the matched up seam…

…and sew the two blocks together…

I press this seam OPEN, see in the photo below…

Then match up the other side and sew all 4 blocks together…

And press this seam open as well…

Then press the whole block..

Step 3 is Complete!

Stay tuned for Step 4:  Setting Triangles!

Happy Quilting, Happy Sewing!

~Cathy

Related articles

• Mmmwhaah! Quilt Project Part 1 – Cutting! (sewingforlife.wordpress.com)
• Mmmwhaah! Quilt Project Part 2 – Sewing The X and O Building Blocks! (sewingforlife.wordpress.com)

Weight Loss Journey Quilt – Checking In For June

Hi Everyone!

I know you all are just Dying to know how my weight loss is progressing aren’t you?

Well, don’t get too excited because I’ve been in the longest running plateau ever known to man.  Seriously.  Every time I start a new week and think I’m doing good I get to the scale at the end of the week and nothing!  Or worse, a gain!  Or I get a loss one week and then a gain the next.  It has been going on like this for about 6 weeks.

In the mean time, since I purchased EQ7 a month or so ago, I have been re-drafting my blocks in this new program!  It is soooooo much easier than what I was doing before.  I even played around with the layout of what I’d had in my mind’s eye…

Look!  You can see all of the blocks I’ve made so far…and some blocks I have in the works…just getting caught up.  My thought was to have a 6″ block for every week on the plan and a yellow friendship star for every pound lost…but I know the two won’t exactly match up now seeing that it’s been taking me FOREVER to lose just one pound.

This week on this journey I am actually using the WW points plus plan but plugging everything into a program I just found out about called Sparkpeople.com!  Have you all see and/or used Sparkpeople?  So far, after 3 days using the program I’m really liking it.  Anyway, my point is, I’m going to compare the points I’m eating with the calories, fat, fiber, carbs, and protein that are counted using the sparkpeople program.  In WW there is a saying that when you aren’t losing you have to go on a mission to figure out what is wrong.  Well, I’m on a mission…

Be back soon with more!

~Cathy

p.s. Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Mmmwhaah! Quilt Project Part 2 – Sewing The X and O Building Blocks!

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to Part 2 of the Mmmwhaah! Quilt Project!  Just as a refresher, this is a little quilt I’ve designed for a special little someone we are expecting later in the year!

In part 1, I gave you all the cutting information to make this quilt, if you missed it, just go back one post or click HERE…

Now on to step two, making the X and O building blocks.

For both the X’s and the O’s, you need 4 of these units.  I like to call this block a HALF SNOWBALL because it is basically a SNOWBALL block with only two corners! LOL!

Here is what the building block looks like!

Do you also see those two side “Bonus Triangles”? Those go into this quilt too and are made at the SAME time as the building block, so if you happened to notice in my cutting directions that a 2″ Half Square Triangle was missing…you now know why!  I LOVE this technique, essentially there is NO WASTE when these bonus triangles are incorporated right back into the design of the quilt!

So here we go.  To make these blocks first grab all of your ORANGE 3″ squares…

…and mark a pencil line diagonally from corner to corner…

…and then mark another line diagonally 2″ from the opposite corner parallel to that first line (see the photo above).  To get that line perfect tape off a ruler at a 2″ marking.  You can use any ruler or straight edge you want just as long as each side is 2″ inches.  I’m using my EASY ANGLE ruler here…like so…

I used Scotch brand tape and I just picked a spot on the ruler.  Then line up the corner of the square and mark with a pencil…

When you mark all of your Orange squares it is time to start sewing!

Match up an orange square with either a pink square or a yellow square and position like so…

Rotate the unit so that you will be sewing along the center diagonal line first!

You can chain piece all of the pink and yellow units.  Then go back to the beginning and sew along the second stitching line…

(please note my stitching is NOT perfect!…and I’m still here…)!

Now, do the same thing for the opposite corner.  Just rotate the square around and repeat the same process and you’ll end up with a stack of these…

Now cut the “Bonus Triangles” apart from the HALF SNOWBALL block.  Just cut right through the center between the two lines of stitching.  The seam allowance doesn’t have to be perfect, just cut!

You’ll end up with what I showed you in the first photo……all of your building blocks are complete!  And you’ll have a big stack of these “Bonus Triangles”!!!

Press the “Bonus Triangles”‘s seam allowance toward the ORANGE but just finger press (or SOFT press with an iron) at this point the HALF SNOWBALL blocks (you’ll HARD press these later as we sew them together and determine at that time which direction the seam needs to go)…

Step 2 is Complete!

Stay tuned for Step 3:  Putting Together the X’s and O’s!

Happy Quilting, Happy Sewing!

~Cathy

 

Related articles

• Mmmwhaah! Quilt Project Part 1 – Cutting! (sewingforlife.wordpress.com)

Mmmwhaah! Quilt Project Part 1 – Cutting!

(Photo credit: Manue@PrettyKiku)

Hi Readers, Friends and Followers!

Are you ready to start following my Mmmwhaah! Quilt journey?

I’ll be blogging this project from beginning to end, from design to final binding stitch.  Feel free to make your own version if you want!

The finished size of this quilt is 47″ x 47″.

Let’s start the cutting!  But first, let’s look at the fundamental building block for this quilt.  This main block is a square block that has a triangle in two corners.  You can see how 4 of these blocks are rotated to create an O in the picture below…There are 4 O’s and 9 X’s in this quilt all set On-Point…

A.)  To make the X and O building blocks cut from an assortment of orange fabrics (104)  3″squares.  I like to cut a few extra to give me options, especially if I’m using several different fabrics.  I don’t necessarily like to have like fabrics butted up against each other.

The ruler below is an Omnigrid ruler that shows the finished size once sewn with a 1/4″ seam allowance (the cut square measures 3″ x 3″)…

B.) From an assortment of yellow and pink fabrics cut  4-1/2″ squares.  You’ll need 16 yellows and 36 pinks.  You’ll also need 8 additional yellow for the on-point setting squares, so go ahead and cut extras at this time.

The ruler I’m using for these 4-1/2″ squares is from The Bungalow Quilting & Yarn shop.  The finished size of the square will be 4″ (I know, different quilt companies mark their rulers differently, one will say the size of the finished sewn square and the other the size of the cut square, so it can get a little confusing when grabbing a template!  Just know that the finished size once sewn into this quilt will be 4″).  As a side note, Omnigrid also makes this same square template which happens to come in the same set as the 2-1/2″ square above.  It just so happened I grabbed Bungalow’s…

You can certainly cut these squares using different rulers than mine, whatever works for you, I just happen to like being able to rotary cut around all 4 sides to the exact shape I want.

C.) Cut (4) 2″ squares in orange.  These will be corner stone blocks in the borders.

D.) Cut the side setting triangles…  To do this, first cut a (6-7/8″) square.

Then sub-cut the square diagonal from corner to corner, first from left to right, then from right to left…

You will need 16 side setting triangles.  I cut out several more than needed to mix up my colors.

E.) Next are the Corner Setting Triangles.  You’ll need (4) corner setting triangles.  To make them cut (2) 6-5/8″ squares and then sub-cut in half from one corner to the opposite corner…

F.) Border strips.
Inner Border: Cut (2) 38-1/2″ x 2-1/2″ pink
Cut (2)   34 1/2″ x 2-1/2″ pink

Outer Border: Cut (5) 3″ x 44″(full width of fabric) strips from yellow.

G.) Binding.  Cut (5) 2-1/2″ x 44″ (full width of fabric) strips from color of your choosing.  These will be pieced together to make the 4 sides of the outer binding.

H.) Backing. Piece a backing from leftover blocks and/or 3 yards of fabric.

Ta Da!  Cutting is finished!

Stay tuned for Part 2 — Sewing the X and O blocks!

Happy Quilting, Happy Sewing!

~Cathy

Tula Meet Kaffe, Kaffe Meet Pat, Pat Meet Bari, Bari Meet Michael, Michael Meet Bali, Bali Meet Joel. Everyone, I’m Cathy and I’m Here To Cut You Up!

Oh Hey Everyone!

I had a little fun with that title.

I just got through reading some of the banter back and forth from the now infamous copyright spat between C&T publishing/Emily Cier -vs- Kate Spain/Moda…see here for Leah Day’s take on it (I know, I’m a little late to reading about this, but it just hit me as oh so funny as I was pulling all these fabrics together to design a quilt, kinda felt like introductions were necessary).

The quilt I’m designing is for a special little someone due to arrive later this year  (yes, the word is I’m going to be an Aunt again!).  How exciting!!!

I’ve just a little time to put it together so I’ve been using my new program (EQ7) to help me work up a design.

This was my rough in, loosely inspired by a Hugs and Kisses Quilt on display at the Bungalow Quilting & Yarn Shop, which our group visited during my recent quilt retreat in Wisconsin,  where I picked up this Tula Pink fabric…

During my research about how to construct a Hugs and Kisses block I stumbled upon that little copyright thread I mentioned…which you all know leads you down a path that ended up being way more time consuming than I needed.

So in the back of my mind I kept thinking about all the fabric we quilters and sewers have and would it be actually possible to know who designs this stuff once it gets cut from the bolt, washed, folded and stashed away into your collection?  Believe you me, I couldn’t even begin to tell you who drew up the designs on my shelves.  I know some, but 98% of it was bought because I liked it not because of the name on the selvage.

So that gets me back to designing this little quilt.  To make the Hugs and Kisses (a series of X’s and O’s) I wanted to use a combination of a few techniques which I’ve learned along the way over my quilting career.  One technique I learned from making the snowball blocks from the Quilt In A Day series and the other technique I learned from following Bonnie Hunter’s idea for making the most use out of Bonus Triangles.  The block is going to be made using two Square templates, one from Bungalow and the other from Omnigrid.  So just to cover my bases here I thought I’d go ahead and mention my references…just so you all know and everything…

So as you can see, I have been inspired by many people, places and things for this quilt.  Now it is up to me to make it my own and put all that inspiration together.

My final design for this quilt came to be after working out this fun little quirk that I could use ALL of my bonus triangles as a border…without further ado, here is  Mmmwhaah!  (A Hugs & Kisses Quilt)

Stay tuned right here to watch Mmmwhaah!  come to life, from beginning to final quilting!

But what do you all think of this whole business about figuring out what designer made your fabric?  I just don’t think it’s practical unless you are using a specific line exclusively…AND happen to know what it is!

More later!

Happy Quilting, Happy Sewing!

~Cathy

Happy Birthday Jamba!

Sunday was Jamba’s 1st Birthday!  It’s hard to believe that he is already a year old!

I think it is at this point forward that these pups really start to come into their own.  They calm down a lot and really look forward to working.  This is somewhat true with our Jamba.

It just so happened that area puppy raisers had a pool outing on Sunday, his birthday, and since Jamba has never been swimming this was going to be an event we weren’t going to miss!

For his first time in the water, not that he needed it, but in order to grab him and direct him we put the life vest on.  He splashed around a little unsure of what this whole water thing was all about.  But instinct took over and before we knew it he was chasing after toys in the water.  A natural.

Sparky was there (she’s a much better swimmer than Jamba) and she gave Jamba a super sweet birthday gift (treats and a ball).

Jamba has also been helpful around the yard, helping to put the flowers in…

Although he mostly just likes to watch.  Or worm his way in for a belly rub…

Or a mug…

There’s always someone around who’s never impressed…

Chloe is always a little ‘put out’ when the dogs decide to take over the yard!

Happy Birthday Jamba!  May you have many more…

~Cathy

Sometimes It’s What The Tree Holds!

Can you tell from this vantage point there is a big grey blob in a tree off in the distance?

Me neither.

Getting a little closer, how ’bout now…

Look for a football shape in the center of the photo.  Do you see it?

This morning when I was taking the dogs for their morning communal with nature I spotted something in the tree and when I returned home I grabbed my camera and walked back to the tree to get a picture.

I can’t say I’ve ever seen a Great Blue Heron roosting in a tree like this…

Do they make their nests in trees?  Oh, so much to learn about these flying creatures!

Zooming in closer..

and closer still…

It must have been the weather that put him/her up in the tree?

At any cause, it was a good sighting.  Fun to see things in unexpected places.  The weather you see is the remnants of that storm that blew through Oklahoma.  So sad about what happened in Moore.

Jamba and Holly…and Chloe too picked out their favorite story…

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50147264n

They’re glad to see Bazzie made it through…

More later…

~Cathy

Learning EQ7!

Hi Everyone!

A few weeks ago I decided to purchase EQ7 (Electric Quilt version 7).  It was just one of those things I’ve had on the mind for a while, especially after following Laura over at LC’s Cottage and seeing all of her designs she’s been doing, I finally went ahead and purchased it!

I will say though, there is a serious learning curve!  I know the videos make it look easy, and I’m sure it is once you know what you are doing, but friends, it has taken me several sessions to get the hang of it!

For my first effort, I wanted to make the Little Wheels quilt and publish it here on the blog.  This will look familiar…

But it is not EXACTLY like the quilt I made, close, but not exactly.  What was so different were the borders.  I couldn’t figure out how to replicate what I did manually with the border feature in EQ7.  No matter, I actually like having it completely figured out for me (which EQ7 did)!

Now the fun part, which I finally got to experience, was being able to change the fabrics and color combinations!  What would this quilt look like in pastels?

Oh this is sooooo cool!!!

Or what about my collection of pink and yellow fabrics???

Wow.  So cool!  I am soooo glad I bought this software.  I can see the doors to creativity opening up!

Now all I need to do is figure out how to print out the cutting directions!

Talk soon, I’m going to go play some more!

~Cathy

45 Years Later I Learn How To Change A Battery!

Hi Friends,

This past week has been a whirlwind of activity!  The paintings were due, my parents came to visit, my niece and nephew had a big event to celebrate, our new windows arrived, our gas line was repaired, my husband went on his sales trip and just when you think you’ve managed to recover from that, guess what happened today?

My car battery died.

Yup,

Caput!

Oh why do these things always happen when I’m alone????  Character builders I guess.  Fortunately I had my jumper cables in my car and was able to get a jump at work to make it home.

Lots of things go through the mind in times like this.  Like:

“Do I drive the car to a shop and have someone do it for me?” or..
“Do I stop off at Walmart, Pep Boys, Batteries Plus, etc….and just buy a battery?”…
“Do I do it myself?”
“I mean, just how hard is it to change a car battery?”…
“Will I screw it up?”

…see…lots of things to ask yourself.  I mean, husbands, brothers and boy friends usually deal with this stuff right?

Well, I decided to put my BIG GIRL PANTIES on and fix my little battery problem.  I read everything there was about the battery in the owners manual, sounds I was supposed to listen to, troubleshooting and all.
Then I got online and watched this little video at carcarekiosk (the internet is an amazing place sometimes!) and got in my husbands truck to go to the store to buy a battery.

So off I went to the store to purchase the battery and came home.  I spent some time looking for tools that would work, gloves, glasses and old clothes and proceeded to follow the instructions…

In went the new battery…

Took me about 10 minutes…

Was it going to work?

Success!!!  Greasy thumb and all!!

I’ll let you all know in a later post if I happen to have missed something and my car doesn’t start tomorrow!  But for now?  BIG GIRL PANTIES Rock!!!

~Cathy

More Painting – #11 and #12

Last Wednesday I spent another session at the municipal center.  I haven’t quite figured out water yet but still trying!

Sorry, the photo of the painting is blurry but it is still in progress…

and today I spent a few hours at another location, this time the Nature Center.  There was a lot of ground to cover and I spent a good hour walking around only to return to the entrance and paint this bird house.

A closer look of the painting.

I have shadows yet to add and some ledges but I was getting tired and thought it best to stop.  I can fill those in later.  The rules say you have to paint at least 85% of the painting on-site and touch ups can be done at home.  I’ll let this sit for the night and look at it in the morning.

Which one to complete for the turn in?  Choices choices!!!

~Cathy