Project Linus: Day 1

By Kaelyn Angelfoot

So we had our first Project Linus day. Things didn't seem to go quite as smoothly as last year, but we still made some great progress. Rune made a no-sew fleece blanket with teal on one side and a really nice owl print on the other side. And I started my crochet-edged fleece blanket and worked on finishing my log-cabin triangle quilt.

The log cabin quilt is already quilted (I kept it basic, just traced the outline on the hexagons) and only needs the binding put on, which will be the same cream color as the background fabric. 

The crochet edged quilt is proving to be tricky. I seem to have overlapped my holes on occasion, which makes me glad that I placed them 3/4" from the edge as it give the edges a little more strength. I'll have to figure out a way to cut the holes more accurately next time. The skip-stitch blade worked very well, but I think the dense pattern of the fleece is what lent to the difficulty in cutting the holes.

JoAnns has their fleece on sale this weekend, at 2.99 a yard, so I'm hoping to pick some up early tomorrow and be able to experiment with it more.

So, just a quick update. I'll post the finished projects when they are done!

More Hexagons! Log Cabin Snowflake

 By Kaelyn Angelfoot

Quilt in a box!

Since I'm never satisfied with just one project, I've started yet another quilt. This one is another paper-pieced log cabin variation. The pattern was downloaded free from CompuQuilt, and is copyright them. I've provided a link to it as I cannot repost without risking copyright violations.

I actually started this quilt prior to the kaleidoscope one, and I ended up using fabric I had on hand. It was just luck that I had purchased all thirteen fabrics for a couple of different quilts that never made it past the planning stage. I had exactly enough in each color to make a jewel-toned log cabin. I also find it amusing that I can fit an entire quilt into a shoebox. It took a decent amount of experimentation to find the correct strip size for each piece. I ended up erring on the generous side, see the table below for the sizes I used.

There are several different choices for block arrangement. I chose what I have come to call "snowflake." This quilt would be gorgeous with the two matching sides in blue and the third side in silver to make a winter themed quilt.

Close up of block arrangement

The finished block will be approximately twelve inches across. I will need a minimum of twenty blocks to make a decent sized lap quilt, or 120 triangles. The only question is whether I have the patience to make a quilt that large. As you can imagine, its a very time consuming block to make. The pattern has thirteen pieces per triangle.

Layout of final quilt

Paper Piecing: Tips for Funny Angles

By Kaelyn Angelfoot

My newest project is paper-piecing. I love the space quilt I'm working on so much I decided to experiment with the fabric a little further. I choose a pattern from "101 Log Cabin Blocks" published by DRG. The pattern I selected was named "Vertigo" and can be found on page 26.

First of all, I had to make copies of the pattern. Because the pattern was in a bound book, I decided to cut the pattern page out of the book so that it would lay flat in my copier. The next thing I noticed is that the copier was feeding paper at an angle, so my blocks were printing slightly crooked. I was eventually able to compensate for this. It is very important to check your printed patterns against a square before you begin sewing.

The first thing I learned was that it is nearly impossible, due to the unusual angles of this block, to line up your fabric strips by sight. I ended up developing an easy system to compensate, which greatly reduced both fabric waste and time needed.

As you can see from the picture, once I got to a certain point, it was very difficult to determine where to lay the next strip.

To help me line up your fabric strips, I flipped the pattern over so the back was showing and placed a pin at either end of the pattern line that will be stitched.

Then I flipped the pattern over to the front and placed two pins in the top of the pattern where the pins from the back were showing through and removed the back pins.

Finally, I laid fabric strip so that it lined up with where the pins enter the fabric, then shifted it up to cover the pins by approximately 1/4", pinned in place and stitched!

The final block is 7" x 7", with a half inch seam allowance. I will trim the seam allowance down to 1/4" before I stitch it to other blocks.