Family of Three – progress
This project is progressing along nicely. The giraffes have heads and necks! I am hoping that because the upcoming weekend includes a Stat holiday, I will have time to give the giraffes bodies and legs.
Ever since I saw the “Family of Three” pattern in the January/February 2016 issue of Quiltmaker magazine, it has been on my list to make. The quilt is the creation of Canadian quilt designer, Lorna McMahon of Sew Fresh Quilts.
This project seemed like the perfect first quilt for our grand-baby expected in September since the nursery is a jungle theme and the giraffe is my favorite African animal.
Warning: There are a ton of tiny pieces to be cut for this quilt. I spent most of yesterday at our guild’s sew in cutting out the pieces. The smallest pieces are 1″ square. Thankfully there were only a few of them. However, there were 215 – 1.5″ square pieces that had to be cut! You need to be organized as you cut out the pieces. I had strips of paper labeled with the colour of the fabric, the number of pieces that I needed to cut, the size of the cut piece on them, and the corresponding letter assigned to that piece in the pattern. As I cut out each piece, I pinned the piece of paper to the top of the stack of pieces. The time taken to organize the pieces as you are cutting will pay off when you go to sew the units together later.
There are some printing errors in the magazine. If you check the Quiltmaker website, they list the pattern corrections as:
Family of Three (Jan/Feb ’16)
The cutting dimensions for the F patches in the unit 4’s and unit 5 are 1″ x 5″.
The cutting dimensions for the N patches in the unit 15’s are missing. The measurements for N are 4-1/2″ x 9-1/2″.
In the assembly diagram one patch was mislabelled. In the fourth row of leaves from the top, the patch labelled “S” (to the right of “T”) should be labelled “R”. In the cutting list, the dimensions and the amounts for R and S are correct.
The light orange patches labelled “L” on the small giraffe are mislabeled. These two patches should be labelled BB. The cutting list under Light Orange Solid should list 6 L’s (cut 1 1/2″ x 8 1/2″) and 2 BB’s (1 1/2″ x 7 1/2″).
We regret the error.
Family of Three – Assembly Diagram
Although the assembly diagram makes this look like an intimidating project, if you take the time to lay out the units on a design wall and refer to the assembly diagram as you piece the different units, you will have the top completed in no time.
I elected to make the quilt with Kona solids in the colour scheme that the designer used: Cedar and Sunny for the giraffes, Cactus, Peapod, and Grass for the leaves and ground/grass, and Capri for the background. There is a small amount of Medium Gray required for the eyes, nostrils, and feet.
I spent today piecing the first 3 rows of leaves.
Family of Three – first three rows (leaves)
I am very pleased with how the pieces are fitting together so far.
I have the first two rows of my Rock Island Campfires string quilt together.
Our guild has issued a UFO challenge to our members – the Finish-It-Up Challenge! – 1st Quarter 2017 that ran from February 1 to April 30, 2017. That challenge was so successful that our guild is running a second challenge – the Finish-it-Up Challenge – 2nd Quarter 2017 that will run from June 1 to August 31, 2017. Again the rules are simple; you MUST post photos on the Facebook page dedicated to this challenge of your quilty works-in-progress by the end of May and they must be completed by the end of August to be eligible for the participation draw. I just made it under the wire for posting my quilty works-in-progress or UFO’s.
Last quarter I listed 13 projects – a Baker’s Dozen – and that number seemed to work well for me so here I go again with the same number of projects. I found listing my UFO’s and publicly declaring what they were in this forum held me accountable to get a lot finished last quarter so here I go again, hoping for the same success as in the first quarter. (Sadly, we could play this UFO game for many more quarters and I believe I would be able to keep listing new UFO’s that had not been listed in prior challenges. *sigh*
1 – Rock Island Campfire
2 – Good Vibrations
3 – H is for Hanson
4 – The Simple Life
5 – Log Cabin
6 – Double Slice Layer Cake
7 – O Christmas Tree
8 – Redwork Hearts
9 – Honu
10 – Circle Log Cabin
11 – Canada Day (Bridge Creek Blossoms)
12 – Check Plus
13 – Baby Bunny
I often make string blocks when I am between projects or if I just want to sew something but I am not interested in focusing. Sometimes you just need to mindlessly sew to wind down after a stressful day at work.
I am always on the lookout for ways to use the string blocks once they are made. This was a quilt that appeared in the July/August 2013 issue of Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting. The quilt is called Rock Island Campfires and was made by Marianne Fons.
Marianne’s blocks were pieced on paper foundations and measured 4.5″ square. Four string blocks pieced together with a cornerstone and sashing measured 10.5″ square unfinished. I pieced my blocks with a used dryer sheet as a foundation and trimmed them to 5.75″ which made my block larger at 13″ unfinished.
I found the perfect fabric for sashing my blocks – a tiny black and white houndstooth – First Crush by Sweetwater for Moda.
These are some of my blocks on the design wall.
