I May have...an FQ Addiction

Been fairly quiet in my sewing room, while my machine was being repaired again I decided to do some much needed reorganizing. It is because of this 'reorganizing' that I came face to face with my little problem. Dear hubby and I went to Ikea looking for a new storage unit for my sewing room.

Ikea Kallax unit and one very helpful handy dude as he calls himself, he was helping grandpa install the draw inserts 

Once my two builders had everything together, I was doing the happy dance. You see I was still under the delusion that my fat quarters would fit in a few of the draws, there are 8 total. I had them stored in the plastic shoe boxes, man can you put a lot in those boxes... as I very quickly discovered. 

draw one and a bit

I have been organizing by colour or attempting too. They do look so nice, there may have been some fabric petting and dreaming of what these little beauties could grow up to be. But then this happened...

two full drawers

and more oh no!

third draw 

not done yet

four draws 

Now what I had two drawers already full of landscape fabrics, two with some FQ batiks...oh my! I did mention I may have a problem.

theses still need a place to be stored

No doubt about it, I may have a FQ addiction!! I wonder if there is a support group that helps with this type of an addiction? 

Maybe google can help? I found this article on Psychology Today and had a good chuckle with various comments. For example "Quilters can display many ‘habit-forming’ behaviors”. Well okay maybe that's true, but me with bad habits never. 

“It can mean an obsession to....buying large/medium/small amounts of fabric in general with no earthly idea of what to do with it – otherwise known as stash building!” FQ's are small and I had no idea what I was going to make with them when I bought them, so that MIGHT be an indicator. “Both the turning towards and the intensity of commitment to quilts may be expressed through metaphors of addiction, illness or affliction". Hmm still not completely convinced that I DO have a problem.

"In reading the academic papers on quilting, I got the sense that the word ‘addiction’ was being used in a non-clinical sense and as a metaphor for justifying the amount of time that quilters engaged in their passion and pastime. There was little evidence of negative detriment although some quilters clearly feel they need to lie about or hide away aspects of their hobby". Ahh there you have it I DO NOT have an addiction! Nor am I hiding my stash it is in plain site. I feel better already. Now back to that happy dance.

I may have to hold off buying anymore of those little lovlies however until I reduce the amount I already have. My next google search may well be fat quarter friendly patterns.

Do you have a quilt or stash addiction or are you like me in total denial of it? 

Craftsy last minute sale on classes ends tonight.

A touch of Quilt History

On Monday my guild had a guest speaker, Nancy Trowbridge. She is a judge with the CQA( Canadian Quilters' Assoication), she had a quilt store in Essex county.  Nancy discussed the Underground Railway and how quilts and quilt blocks may have played a role in the slaves’ trek to freedom in Canada.

Nancy on the right and me 

What a wonderful speaker, she held everyone's attention throughout her talk. The quilt pictured above is one she made with the blocks and there significance to the slaves journey. I like history and this was all about history. She referred to a book written by Jacqueline Tobin called Hidden in Plain View.

I'm on the lookout for this book to read our unfortunately my local library doesn't have a copy

Sorry about the quality of the photos, someone may have forgotten their camera. All this has gotten me to thinking more about the history of quilting. Julie of Pink Doxies is into the history of fabric and quilts, she and I have been discussing the subject of quilt history.

log cabin block in civil war fabrics made in EQ7 

One block is the log cabin block. In the British Isles, it is often called "Canadian Logwork".Did the block originate in Europe and travel to the new world 'Canada' and then the US?
I am a second generation Canadian with European grandparents, neither of my grandmothers quilted that I know of. My paternal grandmother was from Finland she had a treadle sewing machine, that I used when at her house, but sadly no quilts. Julie sent me this link to read.  How fascinating! There is also a good article on the Emporia State University site called the 'History of Quilting'.

Do you like to the history of quilting?

Month 1 Medallion BOM

The first block posted is for the medallion center.

 block is 8 1/2'' unfinished 8'' finished, four are required to make the center

All seams allowances are 1/4''

Cutting: This is for the four blocks

Dark fabric:   A  6- 3'' x 3''  

                  

Medium fabric: B  2-  5" x 5''  

                          C  6-  5" x 5''  

Background fabric: D  2-  5" x 5'' 

                                E  6- 3'' x 3'' 

                                F  12- 3'' x 3'

Step 1:

1. On the back of both piece D draw a diagonal line from corner to corner. See diagram 1a.

2. Place the square on top of piece B. Sew a 1/4'' seam on both sides of the line. See  diagram 1b.

3. Cut on drawn line. See  diagram 1c.

4. Press HST's to the dark side.

5. Trim the HST's to 4 1/2'' x 4 1/2''

6. Make 4.

diagram1

Step 2:

1. Repeat Step 1 using pieces E and  A. Following 1 through 4.

2. Trim the HST's to 2 1/2'' x 2 1/2''

3. Make 12.

Step 3:

1. Cut F in half diagonally. 

2. Sew a F to a HST unit from step 2 right sides together see diagram 2a.

3. Sew a F to the bottom of unit see diagram 2b.

4. Make sure there is a 1/4'' along point edge lining up the ruler 45 degree line with the side of the unit. See diagram 2c.

5. Make 12 units. 

diagram 2 with diagram 2c

Step 4:

1. Cut C in half diagonally.

2. Sew a unit from step 3 above to C with right sides together. See diagram 3a.

3. Make 12 see diagram 3b.

diagram 3

Step 5:

1. Join rows.

2. Join the rows to make block see diagram 4

3. Trim to 4 1/2'' x

3. Make 4.

Remember to have fun and to post to instagram using #stitchinathomemedallion2017 

Medallion BOM

The Medallion BOM will be a free monthly block of the month. I originally designed this for my quilt guild and have now decided to share it with you. You can read more about it here and here are a few of the quilts made by my fellow guild members.

Medallion Quilt

  I will be posting on the third Saturday of the month. The quilt without additional borders finishes at 55'' x 55''.

What are the fabric requirements?

These are based on 40'' WOF and if you are going to make additional borders than you will need to make adjustments for that.

• Background fabric 1 3/4 yds
• Blue fabric 1 1/4 yds or 5 fat quarters
• Green Fabric 3/4 yds
• Sashings and border 3/4 yd
• Binding 1/2
• Backing 3 1/2 yds

The blue and green fabric are the as per the picture below.

layout of medallion quilt 

When will the first block be posted?

• the third Saturday of the month

The third Saturday in January is the 21st, one week from today.

Where can I find the monthly instructions?

• On my blog follow along
• I'm looking forward to seeing to what everyone comes up with. You can share at #stitchinathomemedallion2017

Speaking of Craftsy the Daily Buzz is serving up specials for quilters.

Design 2 Mini

I have been having fun designing blocks for the 30 Quilt Block Design Challenge. You can read more about it here. This is block #2.

block 2 

I feel in love with this block and had to see where it would go. I powered up EQ and took block 2 for a spin. I liked the results.

block 2 became X-Squared

So I ask you what's a quilter to do but make it. Right? But you knew there had to be one... I had a moment of insanity well it was longer than a moment as I cut all the pieces to make this one. The insanity part I thought a mini would be nice...yeah insanity pure and simple. All those HST's are 1 1/2''!!

one and a half inch pieces 

There were a lot of little pieces 48 hst's to be exact plus 16 center parts. What was I thinking? Keeping all those points sharp and having everything line up was going to be fun.

64 1 1/2'' little bitty parts

I sewed like a madwomen, or at least it seemed like I was, needing to get those pieces together. Oh yes I was squirreled or as Sandra of mmmquilts likes to call it a DrEAMi moment. She is going to be having a linky party starting January 28th visit her blog mmm!quilts to read more about it.

ahh success it was all coming together

Those four blocks are 4'' finished. Ahh my little points were all matchy matchy and that makes me happy. I did press the seams open which is something I don't normally do. But when working with all those little pieces it reduced bulk at the seams.

one X-Squared mini

I was in a hurry to get a couple pictures so I glue basted the binding on and will hand stitch it down later. Sometimes the best quilting is just some simple straight line quilting.

glue basted binding

I am loving my new mini. Now maybe I can get back to working on my Meadow Mystery blocks.

Meadow Mystery quilt blocks

That's how I spent my Sunday I hope yours was as enjoyable as mine.

Linking up

Main Crush Monday
Sew Fresh Quilts

I look forward to Tuesdays and the release of the next three blocks in the 150 Canadian Women that Next Step Quilt Designs puts out. I did have some catching up to do and can now say I am caught up. Is it Tuesday yet?

blocks 22, 23 and 24

I am using a variety of shades of red. I am laying them out and keeping them all together on one of the design walls I bought for a $1 from Connecting Threads during Black Friday sales.

the first 24 blocks complete without sashing

I am trying to decide on whether to use a black or white sashing. Once I make my mind up then I'll have some more catching up to do. But for now I'm liking my blocks.

Sandra of mmm!quilts and Lisa of  sunlight in winter quilts are hosting a 30 days of Quilt Design Challenge. I decided to join in on the fun, whether I'll make 30 blocks or not we'll see. But for now block #1 is drawn up. I am going to try and sew up each block I design using some of my scraps.

playing with a churn dash idea

My first block is playing with a churn dash idea I have had for awhile, maybe this challenge will bring out more churn dash blocks or send me in a totally different direction. 

Are you up for a challenge if so what kind of challenge do you like?