Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Floribunda Lives!!

...and I love it! Mine does not have that 50s look of many others posted, but my florals tend to be of the "dark and dirty" variety and my yellows are more golden and patterned, rather than lemony and solid.
The top six blocks are sewn up (but not together). The
four blocks on the bottom are still each nine separate
pieces waiting on design boards to go to the sewing
machine and get sewn together.
That's okay--it is the pattern and scrappiness that I love about it. I have all of the pieces cut and ready to go. The original was 6x8 blocks. I have cut mine to be 7x8 blocks. I wanted this to be totally from my stash, but today I broke down and picked up 1/4 yard of more yellow (and I grabbed a floral remnant while I was in the store--I can't resist the remnants). I use a lot of mustard and gold in my quilts, but not much yellow, so I couldn't quite make it without a tad more. Can't decide yet what I will do for borders.
 Now I will set aside "Eye Fooler" as my leader/ender for a time, and let this one butt in line. It just wouldn't patiently wait its turn. In fact, it got so impatient that when I was just going to sew up one block to get a feel for it tonight, something happened and you can see the results above. I am going to put my foot down now and keep it in its place as my leader/ender project. Wonder how long that will last?
I am following Bonnie's instructions for this quilt, but I want to share with you one tip I like to use. Maybe you all are doing this already, but in case not, here goes. When I have a bunch of strips or squares to cut in a row I like to use the June Tailor Shape Cut ruler. On this quilt, when you have the two 21" strips sewn together and are putting half of one set on top of the other half (or whole ones on top of each other if you are making two blocks from the same fabric), butting the seams to prepare to slice every two inches as Bonnie shows ...
...then I like to pull out this ruler, which has cuts in it every 1/2 inch,  and line it up so that one of the black lines follows the seam on the strips. Grab your rotary cutter and slice through every two inches.
 

After you have sliced every two inches down the length of the fabric, remove the ruler and you are ready to sew the 4-patch units, and you never had to reposition the ruler. It is so slick! Yes, the ruler can be a bit pricey, but that is what those 40 or 50% off coupons at JoAnn's are for!
Of course, no matter how many slick tricks I use, I have to include some major error along the way. Why couldn't I catch this before having it all sewn and pressed?
I wanted to say thanks to all who responded to my last post. It really seems to have struck a chord--or a nerve, or something. As we are drowning in Bonnie's creative juices I guess we can take comfort in the fact that we are not going down alone. : ) I had some good chuckles over your responses and have met some wonderful new people. I know many of you found your way here because Bonnie put a link to that post on her Facebook page, and thanks to whomever it was that mentioned that to me in an email. I'm not on Facebook, so I wouldn't have known. If you are a new follower, I hope you don't expect me to be that entertaining all the time. I'm usually pretty dry.
My mini, wonky 9-patches are finally a flimsy. I'm trying to talk myself into my first attempt at machine quilting on this, but I really don't want to ruin it with my noviceness (when there isn't a word that says what I need, I'll make one). I'll have to think about it some more. If you can recommend a good book or website about quilting on your home machine, I would appreciate the input.
Until next time, from the little mountain valley where the mosquitos are returning like swallows to Capistrano (I'd rather have the swallows--besides, they eat mosquitos),
Janet O.

19 comments:

  1. I have one of those multi-slot rulers. Thanks for the reminder. You could use pearl cotton and do the BIG stitch hand quilting on your Wonky 9-patches, that would make it more authentic, I think...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Janet. I love the 9 patch quilt and how it has come together. It is really cute. I always go back to this pattern for a quick quilt as it was my beginners quilt pattern.

    I did have some curiosity about Florabunda and had to research it further. I can't wait to see how your jacob's ladder blocks turn out.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your blocks are lovely! And I must say that I really like your mistake block.

    I also have that ruler but I can never remember to use it! :)

    Have a wonderful day
    Kristie

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Jacob's Ladder blocks look oh so good in your dark colors. I don't have much in the line of any florals in my stash but it is to the dark side.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love your Floribunda blocks. I'm making the same quilt and having so much fun. Hugs

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have that ruler too - but the few times I have attempted to use it, it just gave me fits. Maybe I need to give it another chance! Love the quilts - even your bad little block that jumped into your sewing machine in the wrong order!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love the machine quilting book by Harriet Hargrave. Worth every penny, imho.

    Your blocks look so fun!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. New to your blog. I love your sense of humor. I've heard about the ruler, but never actually seen it in action. I'll have to put it on my shopping list.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I like your "dark and dirty" florals - they're beautiful! After reading your post about your Eye Fooler leader and ender project, I sent off my $$ and got my own copy of Eye Fooler. That's one I'm surely going to make, if all these other projects quit crowding it out. I know what you mean about projects jumping to the front of the line....

    ReplyDelete
  10. Another good book is Guide to Machine Quilting by Diane Gaudynski. I took a class with Patsy Thompson and she was wonderful. I don't think she has a book, but her DVDs are very good.
    Love how your corner 9-patches overlap that inner border!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love the nine patch!!! It is one of my favorites - so versatile. You continue to inspire me!

    Blessings

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love those Floribunda blocks. I was going through my stash last night before bed to see if there was any yellow. I printed the pattern off of Bonnie's web site. Now this is exactly how I get into trouble because I think ...well just a couple of blocks won't hurt, will it? Then I think....I don't have a lot of florals so I could just make a wall hanging. I love my shape cut ruler and use it a lot. Love your quilts!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Your blocks look really nice with the golds, and warmer-type florals. The 9patch is great,too! I'll be checking your comments section because I need help with machine quilting myself. It frightens me!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love the colours you've chosen for your mini - warm and inviting. Would love to follow Bonnie on this next quilt but I have too many irons in the fire now. Will have to wait for the next one.
    Good luck with your projects.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Fun projects! Great progress - you make a lot of quilts in a short time!! I like Harriet Hargrave and Diane Gaudynski - great books and tips. Practice on a quilt sandwich from a scarp nine patch.

    ReplyDelete
  16. You crack me up...drowning in creative juices...lol!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I dropped in after seeing your comments on Bonnie Hunter's blog and enjoyed the visit very much. If I had room for a machine and all those gadgets I might need a stash like yours.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Yeah, the Shape Cutter is great. I use it on just about every project. It's one of my "if you were stranded on a desert island..." tools.

    I so want to get to this one but have other stuff on the front burner but soon very soon (fabric is at the ready and standing by)....

    ReplyDelete
  19. I must have not read this post b/c I was trying to resist making a Floribunda quilt. Too tempting... *lol*

    Love the colors you're using AND your using the Shape Cutter. No more trying to line up my regular ruler.... me like "more speed"...

    :D

    ReplyDelete

I love to have your comments and feedback.