Posts tagged: Witches’ Bubble Brew

Mid-year Progress

At the start of the year, I made a resolution to address all of my works in progress in one way or another. I cheated in a few ways (mostly unintentionally), as I only listed quilt projects and accidentally left off one entire quilt. Then, I spent most of the spring not sewing anything at all.

I haven’t made as much of a dent as I’d hoped, considering it’s the start of September (even my mid-year progress report is behind), but I have whittled down the list.

Finishes

Wheeling Ruffles (Sevillanas)—this quilt wasn’t on the list, but was one of my oldest planned quilts.
Altered Steps—my very first-ever quilt blocks (Altar Steps blocks) pieced into a finished quilt.

Progress Made

High-school T-shirt quilt—I pieced the entire top together in July, and the backing is in the mail. Status: plan to finish by the end of the year.

EPP Crosses (née Farmer’s Wife)—I’ve continued to slowly piece these EPP blocks together, although months go by between times I work on it. Status: long-term project, no estimated finish date.

Witches Bubble Brew—I sewed the background together, and added embroidery to the concept. There’s still a ton of qpplique and quilting to do. Status: plan to readdress in 2016.

Meta History quilt—I scavenged the scrap bin for 2.5″ squares from older projects, made sure I have squares from all of my recent projects, and modified my plan a bit. Now, the squares have a dedicated home and I’m committed to adding squares of the scraps of each quilt to this box before I call a project “done”. Status: long-term project, no estimated finish date.

Miniatures 9-patch—I’ve been using the strip-pieced chunks as leaders and enders for another project, and have 75% of the blocks finished. I can’t find the heart section that I pieced 5 years ago, so that will keep me from finishing until I figure out where I put it. Status: blocked, plan to finish by 2/2016 one way or another.

Still In The Box

Organic Spins
Drunkard’s Compass
Double Wedding Ring
2013 Sampler Blocks (Cottons, Etc. and Tiger Lily)

Two finishes, one more almost done, and progress on four others is a solid start. I have a couple of new projects I’d like to finish before the year is over, so we’ll see where the others fit in.

Perhaps 2016 will be the year of dusting off wearable projects that are as of yet unfinished.

Disappearing Nine-Patch (with sizing table)

Posted in Quilting

The disappearing nine-patch is my new favorite block. It’s so simple to make, but looks like you pieced together a ton of small squares and rectangles. Great effect with minimal effort—my kind of thing.

Take these, for example. Just some basic nine-patches—all the same.

Then, they are cut into quarters.

And sewn back together into a four-patch.

To become all of these!

See? Simple-looks-complicated. Lovely.

Math

If you don’t want to do the calculations, here’s a table of sizes:

Starting square sizes and corresponding disappearing nine-patch block sizes
Starting Square	Finished Block
Common precut sizes are bolded
1″	1″
1.5″	2.5″
2″	4″
2.5″	5.5″
3″	7″
3.5″	8.5″
4″	10″
4.5″	11.5″
5″	13″
5.5″	14.5″
6″	16″
6.5″	17.5″
10″	28″

Unfortunately, some common block sizes, like 6″, 8″, and 12″, end up requiring the starting squares be cut to third-inches, so I didn’t include them above. You could try rounding up to the nearest eighth, and use a generous ¼″ seam for the nine-patch piecing (and back to an exact seam for the four patch)—if you’re adventurous and aren’t concerned about absolutely perfect points.

Otherwise, the math isn’t that hard for these once you know how to do it.

To calculate final size from your starting squares

Example using 3″ squares.

Short answer: (Square Size × 3) − 2″
Example: 3″ times 3 equals 9″; 9″ minus 2″ equals 7″. 3″ squares make a 7″ disappearing nine-patch block.

Long answer:

Add together a row of squares. Example: 3″ times 3 pieces (a row) equals 9″
Subtract the row seams (½″ per seam, two seams). Example: 9″ minus 1″ equals 8″
Subtract the four-patch disappearing seams (½″ per seam, one seam). Example: 8″ minus .5″ equals 7.5″
Subtract your final piecing seams for the finished size. Example: 7.5″ minus .5″ equals 7″ finished block

To calculate starting squares from finished block size

Example needing 5.5″ finished block.

Short answer: (Finished Size + 2″) ÷ 3
Example: 5.5″ plus 2″ equals 7.5″; 7.5″ divided by 3 equals 2.5″. 2.5″ squares make a 5.5″ disappearing nine-patch block.

Long answer:

Add your piecing seams to the finished size. Example: 5.5″ plus .5″ equals 6″ unfinished block
Add your four-patch seams (½″ per seam, one seam). Example: 6″ plus .5″ equals 6.5″
Add your nine-patch seams (½″ per seam, two seams). Example: 6.5″ plus 1″ equals 7.5″
Divide by 3 to get your individual square size. Example: 7.5″ divided by 3 equals 2.5″ starting squares

Have fun with your own disappearing nine-patches! Let me know what you make, I’d love to see it.

Progress

Posted in Quilting

I have a few projects going at the moment. It’s a bit ADD of me, but I blame all the wonderful inspiration I keep getting from everywhere. Really, I’m just letting you know that it’s going to be a while before I post about finished projects.

The first one I’m working on is a challenge for my quilt club. It has to be done by our end of the year banquet on June 18. Unfortunately, this is one of those projects that is looking better in my head than in execution, but I still have work to do.

Faux Cathedral Window Applique Tutorial

Posted in Quilting

Over the past few weeks, I’ve posted about trying two different Cathedral Window techniques. The first was a technique that actually constructs a four-patch with the window sewn in to the seams—you can see a video demonstration here. The other was the traditional quilt-as-you-go technique (one of many online tutorials can be found here).

The final project I’ve dreamed up can’t use the traditional method, and will require an absolute ton of calculations for the other method, as I’ll be making different sized windows placed in a somewhat arbitrary manner, so I needed to come up with a way to make a faux cathedral window that can be appliqued on wherever I want it. Here’s how.