An Applique Alphabet

In my last post I showed you Chaparral, an alphabet I designed that combined piecing and stitching. I also pointed out that it had some issues that needed to be worked out.

I have decided that if I change it to an alphabet that combines applique and stitching, all those problems disappear. In addition raw-edge applique allows me to make the letters even smaller. And that means I can use these letters on quilts that are not huge.

A Pieced Alphabet

Chaparral is a lower case alphabet I recently designed. It is made by combining piecing and stitching.

Postcard

HUGS

This is a postcard I designed and sewed. It is 4"x6" and it's on its way to Sisters Oregon.

An Old Design Revisited

Look What Linda Did

Rectangular Block

Look What Linda Did

Linda took one of the quilt tops I designed using my Pinawa block and made it her own.

Place Mat

Because place mats are small they are quick to make. This means even blocks that require a few extra pieces aren't that much of a chore.

Placemat

Making place mats is a great way try out new ideas and techniques. It lets you develop design and sewing skills without a large investment of time or materials.

Place mat

Something Simple

It's been a while since I designed a place mat I'd almost forgotten there was such a thing.

I decided I'd see what I could do with this simple 6" block.

Numbers for a Pieced Alphabet

I designed my Foothills alphabet using a combination of piecing and stitching. This allows it to be very small.

Today I'm showing you the numbers that go with the alphabet.

Alphabet Update

I'm going to let you in on a secret that only a few of my closest friends know. I sometimes make mistakes. No, really, it's true.

Today I want to correct one of them. Well... two of them.

Numbers For A Pieced Alphabet

My Heritage alphabet is my take on a style of pieced lettering that you may have seen before. I like to think that I improved the alphabet. To see my entire Heritage alphabet go here.

What you won't find in that earlier post are numbers to go with the alphabet. I thought I'd show you those today.

Rectangular Block

Ashern

Today I'm trying another 8" x10" block on a 4x5 grid. This one is named for Ashern Manitoba.

Rectangular Block

Stonewall

Rectangular blocks come in all sorts of different sizes. Today I thought I'd try an 8" x 10" block designed on a 4 x 5 grid.

Rectangular Block

Waterhen

I've decided to name this 9" x 15" rectangular block after Waterhen Manitoba.

Rectangular Block

Pinawa

I've been designing rectangular blocks and naming them after places in Manitoba.

Rectangular Block

Morden

I'm playing with rectangular blocks to see what I can come up with.

Rectangular Block

Dugald

Why do blocks have to be square? Why can't they be rectangular? I decided to design a rectangular block and see what happens.

Scrappy Quilt #6

I still need to do something about a stash that threatens to take over the house; so I'm still designing scrappy quilts.

Scrappy Quilt #5

Crib Quilt

Most of the scrappy quilts I designed over the last week had light backgrounds. One or two had dark backgrounds. I thought I would try one with a medium value background and make the foreground both light and dark.

Scrappy Quilt #4

Queen Size Quilt

Another scrappy quilt. This time the foreground uses light browns and the background uses dark browns.

Scrappy Quilt #3

Twin Quilt

I'm exploring designs for scrappy quilts.

The first one four days ago had totally random color with an emphasis on value contrast. The second one two days ago was still focused on value contrast but I limited myself to greens in the foreground and light beiges in the background.

This one has light beiges in the background again. The foreground, however, uses two colors. A variety of browns that form squares and blue/purple bands connecting the squares. There is no rhyme or reason to the placement of any particular brown or blue.  As always value contrast is very important.

Scrappy Quilt #2

Lap Quilt

I've decided to design some scrappy quilts to use up odds and ends of fabrics.

This one is shown using a mix of greens in the foreground and a mix of light beiges and tans in the background.

The actually colors aren't as important as the contrast in value between the foreground and the background. The foreground needs to be dark and the background needs to be light.

Scrappy Quilt #1

Using Half-Square Triangles

 

My wife Linda and I have a large fabric stash and a small house. The two are incompatible. A lot of the stash is left over bits and pieces from various projects. The obvious solution is to make scrappy quilts. So I've decided it was time I designed some.

Swirl #5

Theresa

I've been designing swirl blocks and giving them women's names. I decided to call this one Theresa.


I'm going to play with fabric colors and setting to seewhat happens.

Paired Blocks #27

Linda

Bernice

Linda and Bernice are blocks that I recently designed.
I thought that today I would pair the two and see what happens

Swirl #4

Sharon

I designed this swirl block and named it Sharon.



Here are some of the ways to use it that I thought of.

Ninepatch Pinwheel #7

Rocky Mountain House

To make a Ninepatch Pinwheel block I start with a design on a ninepatch grid. And then determine the piecing.

I pick some colors. Then I use four of the block to make a kind of pinwheel.




Then I play with fabric colors and the block setting to see what sorts of quilt designs I can discover.

Ontario Series #5

Kingston

Kingston is another in my series of blocks named after places in Ontario. These are all paper pieced blocks because they do not use standard half square triangles.

Log Cabin

Modern Log Cabins

You may have noticed that I like to change old blocks to make new ones. Today I'm going to experiment with a Log Cabin block.

Wonky Block Update

Pillows By Roos

Roos Kuypers sent me this picture of two pillows that she designed and then pieced and quilted by hand. She started the design by changing the grid on a traditional Capital T block, thus making it wonky.

To see her design sketches go to my 4 April 2013 post. To see more traditional blocks made wonky this way go to My Posts by Subject in the sidebar on the right and click on Wonky Blocks at the very end. To visit Roos Kuypers' blog go here.

I get inspired when someone else gets inspired by one of my ideas and starts designing. I look forward to seeing what else Roos designs in the future.

Color Play

Jacob's Ladder

Jacob's Ladder is a traditional block I like. I've tried making it wonky. I've tried scrambling its units. I've tried cutting it into quarters and putting them back together differently. Now I'll try one more thing.

Swirl #3 A

How To Piece Bernice

Yesterday I showed you quilt designs using my Bernice block.

Today I'll show you how I would piece this block.

Swirl #3

Bernice

I designed this swirl block and named it after my wife's mother Bernice.

Paired Blocks #26

 

Linda

 

 

 

 

 

Lorraine

Having designed these two blocks, I thought it might be interesting to see what happens when I use them together to create a quilt design.

Swirl #2 A

How To Piece Lorraine

Yesterday I showed you this block that I designed and named Lorraine.

Today I'll show you how I would piece it. (You might decide there is a better way.)

Swirl #2

Lorraine

Two days ago I did a post that I titled Swirl #1. That title suggests that there must be more than one, so I had to go back to my graph paper and design a second swirl block.

I named this one Lorraine, for my mother.

Swirl #1 A

How To Piece Linda

Yesterday I designed this block and named it for my wife Linda.


Today I figured out how I would piece it.