Finalmente! - Allietare Week Six Plus

While I was on a trip, Bonnie Hunter released the reveal for Allietare. I like it a lot.  I think this quilt probably looks better as a scrappy quilt than as the kind that's not scrappy. (Is there a name for the non-scrappy kind?) I base this on the diagrams in Bonnie's instructions, which show solid color pieces so that you will know where to place your various colored prints.

I can't show you Bonnie's work or the work of others because the quilt-along is over now. You can buy the pattern from Bonnie's Shop.

The (practically) final step of Allietare is putting all of the little pieces from weeks 1-5 together into 10 1/2" blocks. There are two kinds of blocks that need to be made: gray blocks and gold blocks. To make the full size quilt, you need a total of 50 blocks. Since I am making a half-size quilt, I thought I could make it with 25 blocks. (Or fewer. I'm not sure how that would work mathematically, but I was hoping for a happy surprise. It's a mystery quilt, after all.)

Cutting blocks in half to make both sides even is not an option because of the way the quilt is designed. 

So, without the help of a calculator, computer program, or app, I determined that I am going to have to bump my "half-size" quilt up from 50% to 64%. It means I have to end up with a total of 32 blocks. Sigh. . .  I hope I don't run out of fabric.

Meanwhile, I was too impatient to relive Weeks 1 through 5 seven more times, so I forged ahead with the final blocks.

Here is what four of them look like:

See how the scrappiness gives it so much more texture? I really like it.

I had a Sewing Day and invited a few friends over. We had a good time sewing and talking and giving advice to each other.  Susan worked on a baby quilt. Barbara worked on the rescue of an old, well-loved quilt. Marilyn worked on a kuspuk.

 

Hooray for Susan! She finished the baby quilt. Isn't it fabulous?

Me? I worked on my blocks. I now have a total of 12 done. They go a little more slowly than the earlier pieces because you have to be careful with all the points. Twenty to go. And then the setting triangles. And then the border.

I have to start thinking about the backing and about how I'm going to quilt this. . . .

Adagio! - Allietare Week Five

Adagio! Slowly! I expected this week's sewing to go really fast because all the cutting had already been done. But . . .

I started laying out the 4-patch squares and I soon remembered that I had made the squares during the very first week. At that time I didn't have a feel for where this project was going and I only used four or five neutrals. In Week One I only made half the number of pieces I needed, and I told myself I could always buy more neutrals to use for the rest of the little squares once I had a better idea of what I wanted to do.

As I started to lay out the little 4-patch blocks "randomly," I realized that 1) I now had several additional neutrals, 2) none of the new neutrals were going to be in the 4-patch blocks because I made the half-square triangles before I bought the additional neutrals, and 3) if I didn't make some more half-square triangles right away, using my new neutrals, my blocks would not be random and might not look right.

So the first detour was to cut out a lot more triangles and sew them together into gray + neutral squares. 

The second detour was forgetting that I needed to cut the triangles with the strips with the RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER because I didn't LOOK AT THE DIRECTIONS because I can remember how to do something I did four weeks ago, right? I ended up with all my neutral triangles going one way and my gray triangles going the same way, which meant that when I put them right-side-together they didn't match up. So, I cut some more. Adagio! Slow down!

Then I substituted some of the new squares in the 4-patch blocks which I had  laid out. With this much effort going into it, it's not truly random, but I was really going for more of an "evenly dispersed" look. I wanted most blocks to have some of the original neutrals and some of the newer neutrals. I wanted to avoid having a large number of blocks with only the original neutrals. The original neutrals were all very subtle, tone-on-tone mostly. The newer fabrics were a little more "daring," if you know what I mean. Thus, it would be really obvious, I think, if I didn't spread the wealth around.

Third detour: When I finally started making the 4-patch blocks, my machine started eating them. Lots of stopping and ripping out. I changed to my straight-stitch needle plate. That helped, but it doesn't completely avoid the problem. I googled "sewing machine eating fabric and I found a great list of things to try HERE. I like the idea of using a scrap of fabric to get started.

Fourth detour: I sewed five sets of squares together and stopped to check them out. Ooops. I did not pin them before I sewed them and I had a lot of slippage on all five pieces. Thanks to Becca I now know that it is legal to throw bad pieces away and just make new ones, but I don't want my seam ripper to get rusty or something, so I think I'll just do this the hard way.

A detour from the detours:
Before going further, I would like to share another photo (from our trip to Italy) that resembles the pieces we are making this week. This was taken in Pisa. I think one of Bonnie's photos was taken at the same building, but from a different angle.
 

I finally got the hang of this week's "assignment," and now I have half of my pieces done.
 
I did the Stitch and Flip part, and it worked the first time! Amazing!
 

This is probably all I'm going to do this week because I am getting ready to go on vacation and I have lots to do. I don't know if I'll have time to do anything on Week Six before we leave, but I'll try. I'm really sorry to have to miss the rest of the quilt-along. I'm looking forward to seeing photos of everyone's progress.

Before I go, here is the link to Mystery Monday Link-Up Part 5. It is really fun to see what fabrics others have chosen. I have yet to see ANY of my fabrics used by anyone else.

Avanti! - Allietare Week Four

Avanti! Moving forward!

I was struck by Bonnie's photo of the striped church in Cinque Terre.

Here are a few of the photos we took of the magnificent cathedral in Orvieto, with that same distinctive black and white striping:



 

Did you notice the colors?

 


So. Week Four. Here is the link to Mystery Monday Link-Up Part 4.

I have completed half of the pieces I need. The seams didn't always match up well. I need to be more careful when sewing the half square triangles onto the trapezoids. I wasn't pinning them. It saved a lot of time, but sometimes the pieces slipped and I didn't notice. If I find any that are seriously out of alignment, I will redo them.

I used only one black fabric for all of the pieces. I did this because I misread the directions. I actually like the way it looks, so I'm glad.

Today - 5 hours and 28 minutes of daylight
Sunrise 10:14 am
Sunset  3:41 pm

Today we are turning the corner. Tomorrow we start gaining light!

Volare! - Allietare Week Three

I'm flying through this now! I'm caught up! I have done half of the pieces for Week Three and it is still Week Three. I only plan to make half the pieces, for a smaller quilt, so I am really done.

 I want to start catching up on Weeks 1 and 2, but I have come down with a terrible cold. I tried to work on it last night with a head full of cold medicine and I forgot to follow the directions. It wasn't a disaster - it was just a lot more work the way I did it. :(

I also have a looming deadline for completing more mug rugs.

Here are some of the pieces I finished:

Only 5½ hours of daylight today here in the far north. I love working with the bright golds.

 And here is the link to the Allietare Link-Up Page for Week Three: Allietare Week 3 Link-Up

Allegro! - Allietare Week Two

Allegro! Step lively!

I HAD to get some more fabric. You know how that goes. A big snowstorm was coming, so I needed to get to the store before the storm blocked all the roads. I have my priorities.

This time I went to a real quilt shop, and the fabric I got was of better quality.


I just flew through Week Two's clue. I used the Companion Ruler for easy-peasy cutting of the rhomboid pieces. I really like these templates so much better than Marti Michell's templates, especially for this type of cutting.  These templates are one-size-fits-all. With the Marti Michell templates, you have to buy another set for every size, and when you use them you end up needing a little revolving cutting mat because you are always turning your pieces around.

Here is what I made:


How are these pieces going to come together at the end of the mystery?

Here is the link to the Allietare Link-Up Page for Week Two: Allietare Week 2 Link-Up

Andiamo! - Allietare Week One

Andiamo! Let's go! Let's see if I can catch up to the weekly clues.

Bonnie Hunter recommends the Easy Angle Ruler and provides good instructions on how to use it. I acquired the ruler and it really made the cutting zip along like lightning. I liked it much better than the Marti Michell templates used in the BOM program I have been involved with.

It looks complicated, but it's really very easy to use

The clue for Week One seemed daunting. We had to make an awful lot of these half square triangles. It actually turned out to be easy, thanks to the Easy Angle Ruler, and it went very quickly, thanks to doing only 1/4 of the number specified in the clue.

Here are some of my squares:

Clue 1

Note that the gray is constant, but not the neutrals.

I kind of knew this already, but as I was sewing I became acutely conscious of the low quality of the Jo-Ann fabric. I really thought they would have better fabric in their quilting section. The fat quarters weren't any cheaper than those at a better quilt shop (before the coupons). The gray was fine, but the thread count on the neutrals is very low. I would have preferred something with a tighter weave. I'm not too worried about it because this project is unlikely to be subjected to a lot wear. But still.

Here is the link to the Allietare Link-Up page for Week 1, where you can see what others are doing: Allietare Week 1 Link-Up

 

Allietare!

I am not going to start any new projects until I finish some of my unfinished ones.
I am not going to start any new projects until I finish some of my unfinished ones.
I am not going to start any new projects until I finish some of my unfinished ones.
 
Well, I was surfing the "quilternet" and I found a project that really intrigued me. I was NOT looking for a new project. It is a mystery quilt-along by Bonnie Hunter called Allietare! Here is a link to it: Allietare Intro

Allietare is Italian for "to gladden, delight, or cheer up. "

I just couldn't stop thinking about this quilt-along and it made me feel glad and cheerful.

I like the idea of a mystery.

I like the idea of working with a color palette that I don't usually use.

I like the idea of using paint chips to shop for fabric.

I like being able to use fabric that I picked out. I like the opportunity to experiment with many different prints.

I like the idea of having something to do when my BOM program ends next week. (I have decided not to continue with the BOM program in 2016.

I like the clear and detailed instructions.

I like the idea of being able to see what others are doing with the same pattern.

I love the idea of taking inspiration from your travels - in this case, Tuscany. (I had recently started to think about this after seeing Nancy's work with hand-dyed yarn inspired by her travels: Fireweed Dye Works).

I love the idea of working on a project that I am very excited about.

You guessed it. I have started Allietare!
  
I didn't find this project until it had been up and running for a week and a half. I hesitated to start for fear of not being able to catch up. But then I read Bonnie Hunter's encouragement to do as much as you can every week and then shift to the new clue even if you haven't finished the old one. That took a lot of (self-imposed)pressure off me. 

The instructions are for a quilt 82" x 96". That's more than I want to commit to, so I am going to make half as many pieces to end up with a half-size quilt. For now I am just going to make half of the half - until I get caught up.
My first step was to go to the hardware store and get the paint chips suggested by Bonnie Hunter. It was fun. I love paint chips. The colors are amazing, and I love the names of the colors. 

The next step was getting some fabric. Some people have a big stash and they can just pull fabric from their stash and start sewing. I have practically no stash, so I get to go to the fabric store. I just happened to have some good coupons for Jo-Ann, so that seemed like a good place to start. 

Here is what I got: 

Some reds and golds

Some blacks, and ONE gray, which will be the constant fabric
(The gray got a little washed out in the camera flash)

Several neutrals

This is going to be so much fun. I am delighted!