HST's

Working on Max's quilt, I have all the fabrics cut, and have been sewing the HST's.  I've been chain piecing these, and it goes pretty fast. I'm not a fan of chain piecing, generally, but in this case, since so many of the patches are the same, it works just fine.  I usually like to build and sew one block at a time.  It seems like I am making progress faster that way.  It's probably faster with chain piecing though.  Here are all the gray/white HST, getting squared up and trimmed to size.

Let me say one thing about making HST's.  The standard formula of  starting squares for HST's  is "finished size + 7/8".  I'm not overly concerned about wasting fabric with an extra 1/8" of an inch, so I use the formula "finished size + 1 inch."   I've tried it both ways.  That extra 1/8" in MY formula (finished size + 1 inch), gives you enough wiggle room to have a little "trim space" on all 4 sides.  You end up with a perfect HST.  AND it's easier to measure and cut! The "finished size + 7/8" formula is pretty exacting, and can leave you with a less than perfect HST.  There's no room for error.  Some people make them this way and don't trim them. Just use them however they turn out.  Much faster to skip the trimming step, but unless your quarter inch seams are perfect, and your cutting is exact, do yourself a favor and go the extra mile... I mean, 1/8"--- you'll be glad you did!

Max's Two-block Quilt

Now that Something Blue is finished, I am jumping in with Max's Christmas Quilt.  I have chosen a two-block quilt, which when combined, forms a secondary pattern.

Last Christmas, after Aidan received his quilt, there was a general discussion on who should get the next Christmas quilt.  Max and Landon are the two McGuire grandkids that don't yet have a quilt from me yet.  After the discussion, I asked Max what was his favorite colors.  Max said Blue and Maroon.  I asked what color was "maroon" (it can range in a lot of variations from cranberry to purple), and Max said it was a dark purple.  Ok, I can deal with those colors.  A little later on, Max came up to me and said he really would like "blue and maroon 'underwear'" for Christmas next year. (A private joke there, involving the colors in Aidan's quilt.  He wanted to know why I wanted to know his favorite colors, and I said so I would know what color "underwear" to buy him for Christmas.  He DID get red and blue underwear, that was the joke, but also a red and blue quilt...)

Ok, so back to the 2-block quilt.  These are the two blocks:

 

Light blue, dark blue, Very dark blue, purple, gray and white.  They combine into a quilt that looks something like this:

It's not a complicated quilt, only 2 blocks, and both blocks are 9-patches, one has V-blocks, one has HST's. I DID add an extra "row" to the top and bottom, to help round out the circley-parts.  I think I may also add that same kid of a row to the sides. That way, all the blue stars will have all four points on them. Notice how the side stars run into the purple inner border, and are missing that last point?  This would add 6 inches to the width of the quilt.

I've been cutting fabrics, I have all the fabric I need already in my stash.  That's really nice!  I won't have to buy any fabric.  I might even have a piece of backing fabric that will work.  Gotta check on how big it is though.  This quilt will wind up being around 76" x 91."  Or 82 x 91 if I add on the extra "rows" to the left and the right of the quilt.)  A good size for a 13-yr old.

Something Blue is Finished

Today I cut the final thread of the Something Blue quilt!!  Officially finished, measuring @ 85" x 85.  It took me 7 1/2 months to do.  And what a finish it is!  This quilt  is beautiful on BOTH sides!  It almost looks like a "whole cloth" quilt on the back, with all the quilting.  I am so happy with this quilt.  The binding went on perfectly.  I wasn't sure how this would work because I cut rounded corners, and then needed bias-cut binding strips for them.  It went so well that I will probably only use rounded corners on my quilts in the future!  No mitered corners to worry about with all their thickness and  touch-ups!

Here it is, front and back: