Lucy Boston Milestone

Since August of 2019 I have been working on sewing the sashing around all 56 of my Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses quilt blocks. My Instagram feed has been an interrupted parade of blocks with their new grey perimeters, each one counting up to the finish.

Block 32 of 56, finished Apr 15, 2020

Block 35 of 56, finished Apr 27, 2020

Block 44 of 56, finished Sep 6, 2020

And finally on Sunday, the last one!

Block 56 of 56, finished Feb 7, 2021

At some point I shared the concern that I might get bored of sewing (seemingly) endless grey honeycombs, but really, I didn't. I enjoy the stitching and it was a lot less taxing than when I had to match the fabrics in the blocks! Each block didn't take too, too long so I had regular injections of feeling like I had finished something.

You would think using solid grey would preclude any drama, but I managed. When I bought the grey fabrics, I was planning to use different shades from white to dark grey. After I bought them, I decided the white wasn't going to work and changed my plan. Last April, I pulled out the fabrics to compare what I needed with this new plan to what I had.

You can see the fabric I labeled "3" just has a couple strips left; it was not enough.

Glad that I kept everything organized and labeled, I knew exactly what to order. I made a trip to the store where I got it on the off chance I would get fabric from the same bolt, and they didn't have it any more. Being my last option, I ordered some online and just hoped it would match what I had. Dye lots in yarn is a real thing (as in different batches of the same colourway won't be the same) and I thought that might be true of fabric too. When I got it, I tucked it away because I wasn't in a cutting mood and had plenty of other blocks to sew.

At the end of the year, I got through sewing all the other blocks and finally needed to cut strips from grey 3. But I couldn't find the extra that I had bought earlier in the year. I searched through my maker space and the boxes of my fabric multiple times and could not find it. I finally decided it wasn't worth my time to keep looking and ordered more. Even further removed in time from the original purchase; even more chance of the dye lot not matching.

I received the new fabric and promptly cut it into strips, cut out the honeycomb shapes and glued the 138 honeycombs I needed to finish. I pulled out the block that was waiting to be finished and set the first honeycomb in place:

It didn't match!!

I was so disappointed. And wondering why I didn't check before I cut and glued all those honeycombs when I was already worried the colours wouldn't match!

When I was ready to face it, I tried to find a solution. With some research, a few different things made me suspicious that I mixed up the names. One of them being that fabric I couldn't "find" from April, but funny enough, at the same time I had more of grey 2 than I thought I should!

Now, having an idea of what the grey I needed was called (I suspected I had mixed up the names of grey 2 and 3 but couldn't be sure), I took samples of the fabric to a different quilt store. I don't normally shop there because it's far away, but I was in that city for something else and made the stop.

The shop doesn't have a particularly large section of solids, and they only had five greys. And only one of them was from the manufacturer I needed. And. It. Was. The. Colour. I. Needed!

These colours match!

I was very happy about that, let me tell you. I could have tried an online order, but finding it in person and being sure was so much better!

After that it was simple work to cut and glue another 138 honeycombs for the remainder of my blocks.

Here's a pic of all of the blocks hung together:

You might notice I have also started to sew some of the black connecting pieces between the blocks. And I have started some of the crosses too:

All the centers come from the same fabric, but there are different circle designs.

I'm using three different fabrics for the arms of the crosses, the three bottom ones in this picture:

The top one might be used in the final border.

In a couple places, I have sewn blocks together to get a feel for that:

The lower horizontal seam is sewn

The upper horizontal seam is sewn

I'm still not sure if I'm going to sew it all together in rows first, which is what I see other PotC makers doing online, or try to sew it into sections. Or maybe spiral out from the center.

For now, I'm sewing crosses, which go really fast compared to sashing a block (16" of seams to sew instead of 64"!) and considering how to finish the outside edge. The quilt is visible from where I sit and stitch, so it's easy to stare at it and ponder my options.

County Fair Quilt Block: Grandma's Scrap Quilt

It's almost time for my local county fair again. As it approaches, I start to think about what I'm going to exhibit this year.

And the one project I do each year specifically and only for the fair is the quilt block for their raffle quilt. Each year they pick a theme and sell kits of fabric. The block is due the next year.

Last year the theme was "Grandma's Scrap Quilt". The kits have a square of background fabric and four smaller pieces of print fabric. All of the prints were 1930s repro designs.

None of the kits were the same. They had a lot of different prints in the same style and put a selection of four in each kit. While I was working the Home Arts table first night of the fair, I looked at all of them and picked the combo that I liked best.

I didn't want two prints of the same colour family and wanted to have some contrast (light and dark). Most of the prints registered as "medium" but I tried to find the best combo. You can see what I ended up with on the left.

Although I hadn't started any work on the block, I had been thinking about it. The first thing I think of when I hear Grandma's Scrap Quilt is a Grandma's Flower Garden -- flowers made of a ring of hexagons. I thought about doing one single flower or doing a mini version with more flowers on the square. (I've been influenced the 1/4" hexies and 1/2" Lucy Boston pieces I've seen online.)

But I couldn't seem to get fired up about it. I had a hard time picturing how I was going to use four colours in a flower with five petals. When I looked at the project with more purpose recently (being closer to the deadline), I thought of an eight pointed star. Turns out I had one already drafted in Word. I added the squares around the outside and once it was printed and cut, I got this:

The paper pieces should be a clue that I was going to do this with English paper piecing, and not traditional piecing. I decided where the colours should go, glued the fabric to the paper pieces

and got to stitching.

In a couple days, I had the center shape sewn together.

I was going to applique the shape onto the background fabric. But which way to orient it? Like above or below?

I went with option one. To center it on the background, I created creases at the half way mark in both directions.

And then lined up the points with the crease lines:

I pinned it in a couple places to hold it but put in pins from the back to hold it while I stitched. That way my thread wouldn't catch on the safety pins.

I stitchey-stitched all the way around with the ladder stitch.

Now you could call it done here:

with the background fabric behind the whole piece but it does make it thicker. And in this case, I had to pull out those papers still! So I cut out the background about 1/2" from the stitching.

Then I pulled out the papers. To remove them, I run something under the edge of the fabric to loosen the glue and then insert it into the hole to pop them out.

Here we go--all done:

At this point I soaked it in a bowl of sudsy water to wash out the glue. I swished it a bit, but didn't agitate too much. Then I had a job of pressing all the seams in place again. After trimming the background to a 1/4" seam (and cutting all the fraying threads), I had this:

The centre of an eight pointed star is the trouble spot. Two of the worst things that can happen is that the points don't meet there and that it is a big thick pile of seam allowances. To avoid a big bump of fabric, you spin the seams in the centre. My block doesn't look super crisp because the edges frayed from the glue and washing, but it is relatively flat. (As flat as it could be.)

I starched the block from the front and the back and it is looking super crisp.

The last thing I did was cut the background to size, centering the applique and remembering to cut at 12.5" (not 12" like last year). All in all, a relatively smooth process this year.

I think this is a super pretty block that falls exactly in the theme. I used only the fabrics they provided and didn't play tricks by using the backs of fabrics. If this one doesn't win, I will never think about winning again. I will continue to make blocks because it's fun, but will stop wondering if it will place.

Lucy Boston Update 5

Christmas gifts are a little late this year so I have to postpone a couple of posts I've prepared about secret projects. In the meantime, I can give you an update on the Lucy Boston projects I stitched in the last quarter of the year.

One that I had designed previously is this batik X design:

The pattern isn't clearly defined, but I like how the colour moves across the block.

Next is a block I put together from some pieces I had cut previously and some new fabric I cut for it:

I don't have enough really dark blocks, so this will help.

The next block was also put together from previous prepared and new pieces:

It's a little Christmasy, but that's ok.

Then there was an extended break when I had to design some new blocks and couldn't find the energy and chunk of time to do it. Getting a few new fabrics when I visited Missouri in December provided an impetus to get started again.

Continuing with the Christmasy theme is this red and green block:

I love the soft reds in this one.

And finally, this happy blue and yellow number:

That's five more blocks, making 47 total. Nine more to go. I have 3-1/2 designed so I think in one more design session, I should be able to take care of the rest. I did feel like I was running out of ideas and inspiration last time though; I was exhausted when I was done!

It's not a hard deadline, but I'd love to finish sewing the blocks in January just because I started sewing them last January.

Here are all the blocks sewn so far:

(Clicking on the picture should give you a larger view.)

Lucy Boston Update

Since the end of June, I have finished 13 more Patchwork of the Crosses blocks. Here's a quick tour:

Black and white roosters:

It took me a while to find fabrics to go with these rooster heads. The red square pattern almost makes the heads secondary, but I still like them.

Purple dragonflies with bright orange:

I love this dragonfly batik fabric. It was surprising to find two fabrics that combined orange with purple(/pink) so I put them together. The designs don't really blend as one is circles and the other is all lines and edges, but the colours make them work, I think. The inner purple square or ring was a happy accident.

More purple and orange:

I found the orange dots on purple batik and knew I had to have it. I cut the various sized dots very carefully and was able to get this 3D effect. I thought the orange rings on purple batik would match it nicely.

Oh, the sleeping sun bathers:

I love this print! I pattern matched the sunbathers on the outside ring even though the background colours on these pieces don't add up to an overall pattern. They were too cute not to use. The strong red square design helps to control the look of the block.

All these bright greens:

I knew the peacock feathers worked great in any position and I was glad to find a way to use these other fabrics with complimentary colours.

The centre and middle of this block was one of the first I designed:

It took me a while to find fabric to use on the outside. I had the red and white stripe the whole time, but I guess I needed to try a bunch of other options before accepting that it was the best choice. The outgoing stripes make me think of ribbons on badges or old fashioned political buttons.

"Elephant Feathers":

I've had these feathers on the outside corners cut since my first session, just waiting for fabric to go with them. The gold on the centre pieces isn't perfect but I like the burgundy with the colour of the feathers.

I was amused to see not only this same fabric, but the feathers cut and arranged the exact same way on another person's PotC block on IG.

Another green and orange-y block:

Who would have thought I'd have this colour combination on one block, let alone more! I love these cutey owls and the flowers that match so well. I also enjoy the illusion of a square in the middle.

More peacock feathers!

I love this block - so many things going on. Besides the white cross in the centre, the rest of the block is so blendy from one piece to the next. I used the two outside fabrics together on another block with different cuts. (I really like that block too.)

I had the centre of this block together for a long time before I found fabrics to go with it:

I saw the other three fabrics in separate fabric stores and knew they would work. Quarter yard cuts for the win.

Oh, this blue block makes me so happy:

This is another case where the colours in the fabrics seemed to go so well, I knew I could make a pattern that would work. The four pieces with the gold quarter circles were the last piece of the puzzle. (That is a very useful fabric for these blocks; I've seen it used a lot in other peoples' blocks on IG.)

One of the few X blocks:

It's not my most favourite, but I love the little bunnies (they are so cute) and how the moon phase pieces worked in this design.

I wanted one more spiral design for balance:

I need to have a few more soft blocks I think, and I love these gentle looking leaves.

Here are all the blocks I've finished so far (clicking on the picture should give you a larger view):

This is the layout I'm thinking about - arranged from most traditional Patchwork of the Cross layout to least (from top to bottom). I tried some variations based on colour, but it wasn't working.

The blank squares represent five blocks I have designed but not sewn, plus I need to design nine more blocks. That will give me 56 blocks for a 7 by 8 layout. I'm still planning to sash with grey, but I haven't made any decision about the focus fabric in the sashing.

I haven't been doing as much sewing on this project. I can't do it while travelling (which I've done some of in the last month) and I can't watch TV while I'm sewing them. That is a definite drawback during football season. But don't worry - I haven't lost my enthusiasm for the project.