The Sewing Place
The Emporia => Patchwork & Quilting ... Welcome to the Darkside => Topic started by: SingingSinger on January 16, 2021, 14:13:39 PM
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Bear with me as a newbie to the the Darkside! Before Christmas I decided to make a load of rail fence blocks to use up fabrics I had left over from my swimming pool quilt. I've also made some Churn Dash blocks following Jenny from Missouri Star's method on YouTube. I really like how these have come out and am very pleased with them.
What I'd like to do is make a quilt from this mishmash of blocks but the rail fence blocks are much smaller than the churn dash ones, and the churn dash blocks are different sizes to each other. Can this be done or is this a crazy idea?
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Depending on the size difference you could trim them all the same size or you could add borders to the smaller ones..it’s your quilt you can do what you want.
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Do you intend to make more blocks, @SingingSinger ? Like this kind of thing?
(https://i.imgur.com/SZ6GIebm.jpg) (image from Keepsake Quilting)
If so, you can use sashing to make your churn dash blocks the same size as each other and filler blocks to make your quilt in rectangular sections like this:-
(https://i.imgur.com/J8MS8fgm.jpg)
It doesn't have to be this complicated a plan. All you need is a piece of graph paper.
Looking forward to seeing what you decide to do.
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Do you intend to make more blocks, @SingingSinger ? Like this kind of thing?
If so, you can use sashing to make your churn dash blocks the same size as each other and filler blocks to make your quilt in rectangular sections like this:-
It doesn't have to be this complicated a plan. All you need is a piece of graph paper.
Looking forward to seeing what you decide to do.
Ooooh, good idea! I would like to try some more blocks. Maybe variations on the churn dash, like Shoo Fly. And I have my January BOM although the colours are very different. I'll get the graph paper out this afternoon and play about with ideas. Thanks @Pearl :D
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Trimming the churn dash blocks down will destroy the nice points in the corners. Better to add plain borders around them and then trim so that they are all the same size.
Using them with the rail fence blocks depends on how much difference in size there is. It might be that three railfence = two churn dash or something similar
@Pearl 's suggestion of mixing several different blocks into one bigger design is good. It could be an opportunity to try out several different blocks, and just fit them together as best they will go with plain squares/rectangles to fill in any gaps. I'm sure that's how some early quilts were put together.
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Sashing, of various widths covers a multitude of sins :D
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Thanks everyone. I've had a fun afternoon working out where to put sashing and making a filling strip of 'flying geese'. I need more blocks still but I'm liking the effect so far :D Is there any other design like flying geese that would be good for filling in gaps?
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You could use half square triangles or nine patches to make filling strips.
If you look at Jen Kingwell’s quilt Long Time Gone, you can see the blocks she uses to fill gaps. You may also want to look at Katharine Guerrier’s quilts.
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Rail fence blocks can be adapted for size
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I'm finally making some progress! I seem to need to do a lot of pondering, moving blocks around, then going away and coming back to it. Is that normal? :D
I've joined blocks together with sashing, strips of HSTs, strips of flying geese and strips of small squares to make two wide strips about 16in by 35" and they look OK, I think. One more of these using the remaining blocks should complete the quilt top. It's hard to tell whether I'll like it but I'm learning things as I go, which is good. :thumbsup:
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Yes, that's normal @SingingSinger . Has anyone suggested you photograph your layouts on a phone or other device so you can remember your various ideas? It's one of the most useful things I've learnt since being enticed to the Dark Side. Also, you can view your layout in monochrome which gives good idea of how the intensities of colour look in your arrngements.
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Thanks @Flobear :D I did this for my first (and only) quilt and it did help. Somehow I'd not thought to do it for this one but good idea and thanks for the reminder!! :D :thumbsup:
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I'm hopeless with photos as @Pearl and @Iminei will agree. :|
Just keep fiddling about until you get a layout you like.
I am sorry I can't be more help but I usually follow a published pattern.
Even after 8yrs I don't trust myself to design anything :|
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I seem to need to do a lot of pondering, moving blocks around, then going away and coming back to it. Is that normal?
@SingingSinger Perfectly normal. Taking pictures reduces the scale and helps you spot which colours leap out and need redistributing, and also helps if you move things then don't like it but can't remember what/where you moved.
You will still find, after it is all 'settled' and sewn together that there will be something you hadn't spotted, at which point you unpick and start again - or shrug and carry on as by that time it will probably be layered, quilted and bound!
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I've finished the quilt top. It is a bit random and busy, rather than designed, but I kind of like it. And it's used up a lot of fabric oddments :)
I've sandwiched it so now I just need to learn how to quilt! My first and only quilt I just stitched in the ditch around the squares but I'd like to learn how to do something a bit fancier. :D
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Ask away
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Ask away
Thanks, will do! I've basted it then I'm going to stabilise it by stitching around the blocks in a neutral thread. Then I'll get thinking. I've been watching a couple of Craftsy classes for ideas. Free motion quilting would be a bit advanced for my limited skills so whatever I do will need to be with a walking foot. :D
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When you stabilise choose a cheap bright thread with largest stitch length ... that way it will be easy to see and remove.
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Good grief, I can't believe it was Jan/Feb when I started this quilt. Just posting to say "Ta da! it's finished!" more or less with a few loose threads to tidy up.
My conclusion is quilting is very hard work!! I think I'm going toddle off the the light side for a bit of dressmaking for a bit of a break :D
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Lovely job @SingingSinger :thumbsup:
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It’s great, @SingingSinger ! I can’t stop looking at it. :perfect10:
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Thank you :| What I like about it is a lot of the fabric was gifted by the lovely dark-siders when I started my first quilt. So there is TSP generosity (both of fabrics and advice) sewn into it :D :D
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Looks really good <3
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@SingingSinger It's lovely, there is life and energy in it; so much nicer than the pre-planned sampler quilts which are lots of different blocks but all the same size, I often think they are a bit :\
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Wonderful!!!! :perfect10:
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@SingingSinger The little pops of orange, complemented by the orange border, really make those blues sing.
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Thank you ❤️ I was a bit worried / embarrassed about sharing the finished quilt with such experienced and accomplished quilters on here but thank you for your kind comments xx
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Absolutely lovely, somehow it looks ‘happy’!
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Beautiful! What a clever idea to put the joined together blocks into 3 separate rectangles, with lovely plain sashing and borders joining the whole quilt together. It somehow brings order to the mismatched sizes and looks so neat. Very interesting to look at too. It’s given me inspiration to try to do something with a bag of unused, mismatched blocks. :D
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That's a really great quilt. agree the pops of orange make it sing, and I love love love that swirly navy/black (?) and white fabric. Don't suppose you know who it's by??
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@Catllar Do you mean this one....?
(https://i.imgur.com/zeaUaTMl.jpg)
I had it in several colourways but I bought it yonks ago so I don't expect it would be that easy to track any more down. :(
Sandra.
xxx
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@Catllar I was about to say, I don't know as it was gifted to me. Now I know who it was gifted by! @Sandra
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Inspired by @SingingSinger , I got all my unused blocks out at the weekend and chose some mainly blue/ green ones to fit together into a child sized quilt.I’ve got my animal quilt to post to Project Linus,so I thought I could also send this one at the same time. I’ve been really enjoying sorting out what to use and adding sashing to get the blocks to fit. I’ve got some polyester wadding lurking somewhere, which I’ll use up and some cotton sheeting for the back. I just need to decide if I make another one with the remaining leftovers :thinking: Will post a picture when it’s done.
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I'll look forward to seeing yours @Sheilago. I'm not sure I've ever inspired anyone before! 0_0
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Finished the binding tonight- so here’s my mismatched block quilt. It was very satisfying to put so many left over blocks to use.
The yellow and grey star block was one I made many years ago for the star block swap and decided it wasn’t good enough to send to whoever had the grey yellow colour scheme.
I also have a little crib sized flannel quilt made from leftover bits of flannel and minky, which I’ll probably send to PL too, once I’ve checked they take tiny ones locally.
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I love it! It's so interesting to look at and great colours :D
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I love it too @Sheilago it's one of those that every time you look at it you spot something else. Very nicely done :loveit:
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it's one of those that every time you look at it you spot something else.
Exactly that! You can imagine a child loving this quilt, looking out for the bird, the car, the little house ... <3
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Thanks all - just posted them off this afternoon to PL in Perth.Had a look at the rest of my unused blocks. There are not quite enough ( yet! ) to make another mismatched quilt, but I look forward to having another go when I do. Really enjoyed this wee project. :D