jennifer, Author at Hopeful Homemaker

Trinkets from the Beach: A Trinket blocks update

April 9, 2019 jennifer Quilt Alongs, Quilting and Sewing

I mentioned here that I’m participating in the Alison Glass Trinket Sew-along and I’m making not one, but two Trinket quilts. One of them is this enlarged version made using Tula Pink’s Zuma fabric colletion. I’m calling it my Trinkets from the Beach quilt and today I’m sharing a Trinket blocks update.

A big goal for me with this project is to improve my skills – and my eye – for fussy cutting. It amazes me to see the work that others do when they fussy cut fabric in ways I hadn’t considered. Then there is the skill of doing it so the seams line up just right. I love it, and it scares me, so it was time to try it. In the two blocks above, I was working on it. The pattern matching with the waves isn’t perfect because I’m working with a layer cake and didn’t have a perfect repeat of the fabric, but it’s close enough for your eye to understand what I was doing. Cutting the seahorses so they would mirror each other was another fun experiment.

I fussy cut the tiny stingray in the block above because it captures a memory. When I look at it I see the tiny stingrays (about the size of a nickel or a quarter) that we found one summer all over the beach. I see them resting in my daughter’s six year old hand, and it excites me to know I have that memory sewn into a quilt block. Every block I’m making represents a memory or a feeling or something I love about the beach.

The orange block above reminds me of what it feels like to get hit hard by a wave you didn’t see coming – or at least one that was a lot more powerful than you expected. Sometimes it was a little scary, but I learned. My children have learned these things as well. They have learned respect for the ocean, and also that they’re stronger than they sometimes think they are.

The two blocks below are favorites from the second two weeks of the Trinket sew-along. The top one was another attempt at fussy cutting a shell to use in the hexagon. I learned more from that block than I have from any other so far about fussy cutting and foundation paper piecing. I also made it to resemble a sand dollar (although a pentagon would be more accurate). The block below it is one of my favorite memories ever from our early morning discovery walks along the beach. My daughter Marian discovered a tiny, perfectly formed, magical octopus. Sadly, it was dead, but it was perfect in every other way, it’s body less than two inches long. We were speechless as we marveled at it. That octopus block has been in my head since before I started this quilt. I think it’s my favorite.

I have become increasingly preoccupied with learning, or at least trying, to tell stories with my quilting. Much of life is stitched into my quilts – something I believe happens to all of us. I can look at certain quilts I’ve made and I’m transported to the things I was experiencing or wrestling with at that time. Lately I want my stories to stay with the quilts somehow. I don’t want the quilt to live it’s life as a quilt independent of the story it has inside me. These Trinket quilts are my first experience with making each block to represent a specific story/memory/feeling. The thoughtfulness while sewing is not new to me, but trying to translate the thoughts into quilt blocks is. If you follow me on Instagram (@hopefulhomemaker) you can read each memory as I share my blocks.

Sewing anchors me in good ways. This is a fun quilt to be making!
Question for you, though… How would you keep the story with the quilt? Have you ever done this?

-Jennifer

Mandolin Quilt Blocks

April 4, 2019 jennifer Quilting and Sewing

Last year I subscribed to the Mandolin Quilt club hosted by Jodi at Tales of Cloth . Jodi is an Austrialian whose work with English Paper Piecing (EPP) inspires me. Her patterns are creative and this is the second English paper pieced quilt I’ve started as part of her monthly subscription for papers. Today I’m sharing my completed Mandolin quilt blocks with you.

Someday I want to make a La Passacaglia quilt, with all it’s tiny pieces, but not until I’ve proven to myself that I will actually finish an english paper pieced quilt.

So far I’m a great starter!

I began the Ice Cream Soda quilt in 2017, and still have many blocks to make. That didn’t stop me from starting the Mandolin quilt, though.

These Mandolin quilt blocks finish rather quickly, I think. The pieces are simple and stitching them together is easier for me than the smaller ice cream soda pieces. This would be a good beginner project if you want to try epp.

My blocks feature fabrics by an Aussie design house, Tilda. They are beautiful and fun to sew with. There are also fabrics from some Liberty of London designs on quilting cotton as well as other blenders from my stash.

I have also used a variety of fabric arrangements in my blocks instead of sticking to one pattern. I like each block individually.

With some blocks I fussy cut the fabric to showcase a print and create a repeating design.

Fussy cutting is an approach to using fabric that has fascinated me for a long time. I wanted to try it but was afraid to waste fabric and make mistakes.

You will see that in many of my current projects I am experimenting with fussy cutting. I want to be good at it, which will never happen without practice!

I have now finished 13 of 20 Mandolin quilt blocks. My biggest obstacle is the time it takes to select fabrics, cut shapes, and baste them to the papers (I use glue sticks). I guess I let this preparation seem like a big deal in my head, so I avoid it.

Once the pieces are prepared I have no trouble stitching them together. It is good to learn what step I stall on, so I can overcome that weakness.

I have prepped all of the remaining blocks, so it shouldn’t be difficult for me to finish the blocks. After that remains the step of choosing fabric and piecing all the joining blocks.

I have a great deal of work ahead to finish my Mandolin quilt top but I’m happy to be more than half done with the blocks.

Trinket Sew-Along: my first blocks

March 12, 2019 jennifer Uncategorized

Alison Glass is hosting a sew-along for her pattern, Trinket. The pattern is one I’ve had my eye on for months, so when she made the announcement I signed up immediately. I am excited to improve my foundation paper piecing skills through this project, as well as to work on color and fussy cutting. In preparation I dusted off my favorite tools for foundation paper piecing and printed the blocks.

I debated with myself over fabric choices as well as block size and decided to make two trinket quilts during the trinket sew-along. For the first I am using my Alison Glass fabrics and scraps to make the original sized blocks. I will make 2-3 of each block. I considered some color scheme or designer to use that would be different from the quilt featured in the pattern, but since I’ve never made a quilt in the signature Alison Glass style, I will try it.

The more I thought about the name of the quilt, “trinket”, the more I thought about the trinkets I’ve collected. Most of them are connected to memories of the beach. This sew-along will be a fun opportunity to make a quilt honoring my favorite place and some treasured memories. For this second version I enlarged the blocks approximately 140% and I will make just one of each block.

I started with this quilt with the Zuma fabric collection by Tula Pink. It’s saturated with bold color and gorgeous artwork. I’ll mix in other designers but for now these blocks make me smile.

The Trinket pattern is, so far, easy to follow. The first block is simple and the blocks increase in difficulty as you sew through them. I am glad that the first blocks are fast and easy. Hopefully my skills improve as the sew-along continues!