on point setting woes

[Lotti D.]

For borders - I think that blues would work, so would reds or the neutrals that you used for the front second from the left star block. As Norma suggests lay out the fabric in the planned proportion and take photos of several different options. this is a great way to audition different colours.

By the way, I was thinking 'huum, so on point is supposed to be more difficult, I really must try that 8) '. Then I remembered that I have already done an on point border on my Wot Rott reels quilt, and yes I ended up with wrong sized setting triangles (some of them don't have the grain going up/down even now because I ran out of fabric), putting them on the wrong way around and having to take them off again etc. Even though I had them laid out on my 'design wall' mattress, when I took off several to sew on the setting triangles I got some of them the wrong way around :roll: , particularly when I was changing direction of angle. This is one of those times when I appreciate if I haven't got my tension perfectly balanced, because it makes it easier to undo :wink:

[Lotti D.]

Rosemary, your spool quilt is beautiful!!! I imagine those setting triangles were difficult, but what a fantastic job! YIKES on all that pinning!! Thank goodness mine cut out the right size, more or less, LOL, so I didn't have to mess with bias-edged ones. yikes.

I tell you what, though, I'm saving on point for quilts where orientation and order of blocks doesn't matter, from here on out. And paying more attention next time to where the sashing needs to go, where the triangles go, etc. What a bear it was!

My mentor said same as you on borders --- she suggested a bit more of the black/background, then a pieced (piano key style) neutrals from the quilt, then a pieced/scrappy pinwheels from the quilt -- heavy on the blues, 'cause that is our favorite color -- then repeat a neutral at the outside to bring it to the right size. I'm playing in EQ7 to see how many and how wide I need the borders to get up to bed sized, and pulling my scraps and leftovers to see what I have that will work, and then fingers crossed I won't have to buy new fabric for this! I might need to "borrow" some blue from a different project, to use in the blue pinwheels, but we'll see. Will for sure have to rob my son of his scraps, as he got all the scraps from this when I first pieced the squares.

Oh! no, not pinwheels, hour glass blocks. Anyway, to mimic/repeat the triangles.

She did laugh with me that I could, if I need to, go back and buy most of these fabrics again because of the way fabric is here. Can't do that in the US, I'm told -- fabric originally bought 2 to 3 yrs ago, yes, I can still find it all in the store today.....(sigh). But I think I have enough scraps and leftovers to manage.

[Lotti D.]

Yes that was a lot of pinning (keep dividing the space and fullness in half, again and again) but after stitching and pressing you wouldn't know that it had happened - one of the positive sides of bias and easing, that I have learnt from tailoring & dressmaking :wink: When orientation/placement is important it can help to mark either with a pin or a small note pinned onto each block - more prep time, but less ripping time.

[Lotti D.]

Heather,
I agree with idea for border and having a solid narrow strip as part of border is a welcome break from the busy aspect of your colourfull blocks. If you have leftovers from all your blocks - it might be fun to make up sashing from those. I ended up doing that on a large quilt I made for my niece and it tied it up nicely even though it was somewhat labour intensive
cheers
Jeanine

[Lotti D.]

Heather,
I agree with idea for border and having a solid narrow strip as part of border is a welcome break from the busy aspect of your colourfull blocks. If you have leftovers from all your blocks - it might be fun to make up sashing from those. I ended up doing that on a large quilt I made for my niece and it tied it up nicely even though it was somewhat labour intensive
cheers
Jeanine

ooh, that's a good idea, Jeanine! thanks!

I'm pulling scraps now and trying to figure what I want to do.....think I'll take the whole pile to my room where I can play "design wall" on the bed, free from dog hair, and decide where I want each color. I've got blacks/grays, neutrals (the tans, browns, olive green), blues, and brights (the cranberry, purple, pinks). Need to determine how I want them to go......and of course how much of each comes into play as well, since the borders the farther out get wider, means needing bigger scraps.....

If I had enough of the black, I'd do just one floating colored narrow strip, but I don't. I might see how navy looks next to it, as I do have a navy for something else that I can pull and buy back for the other project later....... will play and take photos so you can all weigh in!

[Marion D.]

I love on point settings because they are more interesting. And I have done every single mistake you've done! Is the name for this one "An exercise in frustration?"

[Rita C.]

Heather your quilt looks lovely. I am sure you will come up with a great border for it. Just in case you haven't come across it I just wanted to point you to Bonnie K. Hunter's blog where she has some fantastic tips and techniques, including a list of sizes for the squares you need to cut to create on point setting triangles and corners. Here's a link:

http://quiltville.blogspot.ie/2005/0...nt-quilts.html

[Geneva C.]

I don't know if you can still get the book, but I still refer to Mary Ellen Hopkin's book "It's Ok if You Sit on My Quilt". She has simple directions for constructing all sizes/types of blocks and settings. It's a great book to have for reference. By the way, RIP Mary Ellen. You inspired me and made me the quilter I am today. "Every red goes with every other red." MEH.

Geneva in Northern California

[Geneva C.]

thanks, all! I did figure out a border idea, and will even be able to incorporate an antique block I was given, made by a great-grandmother that I never met (it was made by my grandpa's mom, but she died when he was a toddler). My grandparents are heavily featured in my quilt squares, and it was this great-grandmother who saved the KCS blocks/patterns in her paper, which my grandpa now has and my grandma has been scanning and emailing to family. I used a few of the KCS patterns as blocks in this quilt, so will be very special to have this block done by her in my quilt as well.

The quilt it came from belonged to my grandparents, but they had a house fire some years ago and the 3 quilts (by her) which they had, were burnt. My stepmom recently repaired/restored 1 of them, and this block is a left-over from that project -- she had to completely take apart the quilt, create new blocks to go with it, and reassemble it. She had a block leftover that didn't fit in the new layout, I got that, and into my quilt it will go as part of the border. I'm very pleased with the idea, and glad I sat and pondered a while before starting on borders!

Will post a photo when I get that part done; it's on the schedule for today. Thanks for all the encouragement!

[Geneva C.]

Added a "top row" which makes the quilt a rectangle instead of a square, which is MUCH better for me as far as borders go, and now I think I know what I'm doing with borders

The top row incorporates an antique block, made by my grandpa's mom; the other blocks mimic her block but use the colors that represent each member of my family --- L to R is a joint block for my husband & myself, then my husband's color, then the antique block which "just to happens" to be my color, then each of my 3 sons in order. Whew! Just enough! It was meant to have another combo block on the edge, but I think the EQ7 measured it differently than I did, LOL. So, this works

Now I will add a solid navy border, then a piano key scrappy border, and then a solid black/gray/navy/something, I think. Sort of feeling my way through.....

Picture is looking from the side, showing that top row; the pink/off-white is the antique block and you can just make out the quilting in it (the block is cut from the whole quilt, so has the backing, quilting in tact, etc. and I appliqued it to a background piece of black using a narrow but tight zig-zag stitch so I wouldn't lose any of the block in the seam allowances and also to stabilize it).

[Renata L.]

That is one beautiful quilt, Heather, and the fact that it carries so much of a legacy from the past and into the future is heartwarming to those of us who read about it and, I'm sure that sentiment will carry this quilt through beyond our time. You've done so fantastically since we started following your journey! I am so impressed with what you've done to-date!

[Renata L.]

Heather, I agree with Renata beautiful quilt and so much family history!!

Love the way its turning out!

Barb

[Norma H.]

and I agree with the other comments. Will you reveal the story this quilt is telling some day? I'm curious about the blocks telling what?

[Lotti D.]

Ditto to what Renata & Norma said. Loving this quilt!

[Lotti D.]

and I agree with the other comments. Will you reveal the story this quilt is telling some day? I'm curious about the blocks telling what?

The (very very long) long version is on my quilting blog, if you want to read all you ever wanted to know about me and then some, LOL!

for the short version, you can read just the titles and the little intro about each row, at this link:

http://quiltingonawhim.blogspot.com....ary-quilt.html

for the long version, you can click the title of each block and read the full story about every block (I wrote up each block as I made it originally)

For the medium version, in case you don't want to click out to my blog, here's the basics....

Airplane block --- this is for my paternal Grandpa; he had a plane all my growing up years and we used to go flying, often. The (barely visible) tail of the plane has his plane's call numbers on it.

Christmas Star --- for Christmases spent with my paternal Grandma/Grandpa, and all the family.

Delectable Mountain --- camping with my dad. I put the orange triangle among the trees on the mountain to represent our orange tent. We camped with Dad every summer growing up, sometimes more than once/year, always to far away places.

Music symbols --- my mom. She loves music, and also used to do cross stitch & embroidery, so this made sense. I hand embroidered it, no hoop, 'cause I didn't know I was supposed to, LOL! I had never embroidered anything before (well the numbers on the tail of the plane are also embroidered).

Broken Dishes (the gray/black/red/green one) --- represents my parents' divorce, when I was 10

Crayon Box -- the obvious I *love* color. As a kid, I always had a new box of crayons. Into my teens/college years, I got a collector's tin every year at Christmas.

Puss in the Corner --- for my (late) stepMOM, Kelly, who loved cats, loved me, and brought much joy to my life

Thrifty (red/tan/"live, laugh, love") --- this was a tribute to my grandma again (same one) and to my (late) uncle Ron; we used to go "thrifting" -- aka, shopping at resale shops in Houston. Many Mondays in the summers, she would pick me up (sometimes my sister also), and we'd meet my uncle at a resale shop near his home and off we'd all go, searching for clothes, antiques, etc.

Card Tricks --- for my highschool sweetheart, who I"m now married to We began our friendship/pre-dating over a very long, on-going, informal "tournament" of the game Speed. We had lunch together, and played a few hands one day, in which he beat me 3 out of 5 games. So we extended to best 5 out of 7, and then best 7 out of 9, etc.... as we kept flip-flopping who was ahead. Three months later, 150 games in, he asked me to be his girlfriend and we declared the tournament over, though neither of us remembers or will admit the score.

Jewel Box --- (the turquoise, red & gray one) --- my Grandma (same one, again....) owns an Art Gallery in the Houston area that specializes in Native American art, including a strong focus on unique pieces of Native American jewelry (contemporary and traditional); it was my "2nd home" for years, and my first job, starting at age 15 and continuing through high school, weekends home during college, and then helping out "as needed" once I graduated/married/etc. I still help out sometimes.

Compass --- "finding my way" --- just represents the journey from kid to adult, and self-discovery we all go through during those late teen/early 20s years, for me, during college and a summer working at a church in New York.

True Loves Knot -- well, just what it says marrying my high school sweetheart & one true love.

V Block -- our last name begins with V, and also there are 5 of us so I sometimes say "just the V of us" (ala Roman Numerals), so this is one V in each of our colors (each person had his/her own color in the quilt) (well, the kids had 2 colors each), with the top V being a combo of DH & myself, then one V each for each of our 3 boys.

New Home --- because we move. A lot. Right now, 10th home in not-quite 16 yrs of married life.

Moon in the Window --- my oldest son; Sunburst --- my middle son (this is the block you all helped me with so much! I wound up piecing the sunburst itself, then appliqueing it to the background because I could NOT get Y seams to work out right); Evening Star -- my youngest son ----- when my oldest was born, I added verses to "You Are My Sunshine" (or changed the chorus, really) to include one about a moonbeam, and one about starlight. As the other boys were added, each one sort of became associated with a symbol, and they each know their symbol, what it means, etc. I used the colors of their birthstones, again, they know these colors and will often sign cards to me with their symbol drawn in their color. Also, I picked Evening Star because my 3rd son was the only one born at night

Pets Improv Block --- again, pretty obvious; just a tribute to all the many pets we've had over the years. Boys = animal collectors, LOL.

Ocean Waves, Books, Circle of Friends --- the stuff that makes me, me. I grew up near the water, so ocean/salt water is part of my DNA, or the DNA of my soul. Books, same thing. I've been a reader forever, and many of my best friends live inside books Circle of Friends is for those friends who don't live in a book, LOL.

Strength in Union -- did this half in US colors, half Brazil colors, for "a Texan in Brazil" because Brazil has definitely left its mark on me.

Ohio Star -- tribute to my closest friend, Joyce/She-Quilts, and all the quilting mentors/friends in my life, and my new love of quilting.

Trip Around the World --- sums up my love of travel, and that my travels aren't over yet

Dream Weaver --- using the colors from my boys' blocks, to show that while of course I still have dreams of my own, I am busy right now weaving together the dreams my boys have, and that just as my past is a part of me, my future (through my boys) is a part of me too. Something like that....it's hard to put this one into words, but just showing how my dreams are woven into their dreams, and their dreams into my dreams, and, well, I think if you are a mom or dad you get what I'm trying to say.

Whew! So, there it is! The antique block in the top row was made by the mom of the Grandpa of the Airplane block. Some blocks were easy to come up with, some hard, but I love love love this quilt. I plan to print up a photo book with each block and its story for my boys, so they'll each have that as well one day and the stories will remain with the quilt.

The blog posts have much greater detail, if anyone wants to read the full stories