things are a little better.....

Thanks everyone for your prayers and hugs.  Dad was better this morning but still some problems so he'll be in the hospital a couple days.  I'm hoping he can go home and have home health care again vs. going to the nursing home for a stay.

No photo............

I got a call just before noon yesterday that my dad needed to go to the emergency room.  I spent hours at the hospital and came home exhausted.  He has pneumonia even though he had the shot last October.  He has another problem I am more concerned about so I'll be spending more time up there today. 

Other things I am working on......

I didn't want to put anything not relevant in the modular quilt tutorial so I will have 2 posts on some days. I chose more strips to go with diamonds and actually sewed a few but forgot to take a photo.

I also got the green border cut and sewed on and then about panicked when I opened up the black and white border piece and I didn't think there was enough of it to cut the design lengthwise on the sides and crosswise on the top and bottom.  I had to piece the 2 crosswise ones but luckily I found the pattern match in a piece that was large enough.  I don't know if this piece is done or if I should look for another green to make an additional border.  Or maybe a green and black border, or maybe it is done.

Modular quilt tutorial part 3

You need to continue cutting pieces of all of the fabrics you think will work and when you have a size where you want to stop, it is time to see if there is anything you want to change.  This is about 39" x 51" right now.  I knew I wasn't making a bed size quilt but didn't know when I would stop until I was actually working on it.  I can see several places that are 'mushy', not enough contrast between the pieces.  I need to look for a couple more deep blues.  I know this looks black and white on the monitor but it is really deep indigo blue Dutch Wax batiks.

Then I realized I hadn't used the Escher print I showed in part 1 so I cut a strip of it.

It wasn't quite long enough to put on the side of the quilt so I added a piece that was similar to the top.

This quilt made from directions in a Kaffe Fassett book is also a modular quilt.  All of the pieces are 3.5", 6.5" or 9.5" squares.

I had to make this quilt twice; two different color schemes.

Modular quilt tutorial part 2

I cut many areas into my chosen sizes, using about 1/2 yard of this fabric.  I cut several other fabrics too.  You have to just cut shapes to play with using the chart I gave you yesterday as starting point.

Then I went to the design wall and just started putting pieces up there.  You have to overlap slightly to make them fit while they still have seam allowances on them. I have the extra pieces not used yet to the right of the piece.  I also have 4 more fabrics cut into shapes since I took this photo.  This isn't the final layout but just a quick play time to see if it is going to work.  I will replace a lot of these pieces with the new ones that I cut as I go.  You have to decide if you want to cut every fabric before you play or just cut a few and play a little.

If you are making a small piece you want to use each fabric at least 3 times for a balance in the design.  If you are making a large quilt you might use 5-8 pieces of each fabric.

This is another quilt that I used the modular approach for.  I have 2 sizes of stars, 4 patches, plain squares in 2 sizes and large stars.

In this quilt I used the large star block as the main size and all of the combinations of small pieces made a block the same size as the star.  It was easy to sew together in straight rows unlike the hand dyed one with the partial seam in the construction.  This quilt was started in 2004 and finished in 2009.

Modular quilt tutorial part 1

This is the fabric that I am going to use in the next modular quilt so you will see it taking shape over the next few posts.  As I am choosing the fabrics I am thinking about the sizes I will cut the pieces.

Here are some more of the fabrics.  The smaller prints will be cut into the smallest pieces, the ones with a motif I want to see more of will be cut larger.

I like to work with multiples of a number.  In a lot of my quilts it is 3".  It needs to be multiplied by 2, 3, 4, and 5, or in other words, count by 3's.  So my modules will finish at 3", 6", 9", 12" and 15".  Once you have the numbers figured out you need to add 1/2" (.5) to each of them so my cutting sizes are 3.5", 6.5", etc.

The rectangles can be any 2 of the numbers such as 3.5" x 9.5" or 6.5" x 12.5" and of course all of the numbers can be cut into squares.  I know the large elephant will be in a 15.5" square.

This piece might be a long skinny vertical rectangle to get the whole design in one piece.  You can see in the photo below that is says Escher Heirs on the selvage.

I will start cutting today and continue the tutorial tomorrow.  When I make a modular quilt I just start cutting pieces and playing with them on the design wall.  I don't pre-plan my design.

If you go back to this post you will see that several of the fabrics I am using are a gift from a friend.  Thanks, Diane.

Little neckbands.....

I needed to finish the little neckbands on the extra small preemie gowns yesterday so they would be ready to take to sewing circle at church today.  One of the ladies will thread ribbon through the ribbing so the neckline is adjustable on the preemies.

I had 20 neckbands to do and I also washed 2 more 3 yard pieces of flannel to cut out other sizes of gowns at our workshop.

Chippy was out back yesterday so I captured a sequence of photos of him. 

One of the squirrels opens the lid on this feeder.  It has chewed off one of the tabs that should help hold the lid in place.

He sat on the pole for almost 5 minutes before he was ready to eat.

He filled his little cheeks for about another 5 minutes and then ran down the pole and disappeared.

I will try to get a tutorial on module quilts ready for tomorrow.  There are 2 different types, one that deals with math and the other where you just fit pieces as you go in more random sizes.