Posted on by agilejack

A Little Sunday Sewing and the Weekend Ends

I had a great weekend. I had a sheep herding lesson with Rico on Saturday morning. Trudy takes several weeks off during lambing season so this was our first week back in a month and Rico did a great job.

We stopped while we were up in Washington and had a nice field run in the park with the creek. My boys were happy to get out. The creek was deep enough that they actually got a little swimming. Then they found a really good stick.

They were a wet mess by the time we were done.

I can’t remember what we did last night. I think we took a three mile walk at some point in the day.

We had another sheep herding lesson this morning with a different trainer and it poured the entire time! But Rico didn’t care! He had another great lesson.

After that I hight tailed it home, grabbed some lunch and headed out to play pickleball. After a couple hours of good exercise I took the boys for a nice three mile walk. They were happy to get out and we were lucky to have a break in the rain.

After dinner I hit my sewing room to cut some more fabrics for my Wensleydale quilt. I stopped on Saturday at a local quilt store and bought some whiter indigo batiks. I combined them with a few that I bought online last week.

I also cut up some of the darker indigo batiks. I decided last week that my quilt top needed some really dark and really light fabrics. I found this fun one at the bottom of this photo in that stack of fabrics I’ve purchased recently. I completely forgot about it but thought It would add a fun pop of color.

I love the way it looks with the paisley.

I think I came close to cutting up enough fabrics for the remaining 20 blocks I have to make.

I will still need to cut up some KFC fabrics for the centers.

Then I kitted up enough for four blocks, but only got three made before I started to fade.

I tossed these lighter blocks up on the design wall to see how they look.

They’re in there and I like what the lighter whites do for this.

Here’s the new blocks mixed in with some other blocks to see how they look.

I think I’ll be happy I went through all that effort to find the whiter fabrics. There aren’t a lot of them out there!

I decided I would start pulling paper off blocks while I watched a little TV at the end of the night. I have 20 blocks that still have the paper on the back!

It’s a pretty big stack!

After a lot of rain today it was nice to get a little bit of sun.

43 Replies to “A Little Sunday Sewing and the Weekend Ends”

  1. Wow your new block’s really change the appearance of your quilt, l like the block on the left of the group of three.
    I love the design you’ve picked for this quilt so much I’ve purchased a book of 60 papers to start my own wensleydale quilt with my scrap fabric. I just hope I can make mine as stunning as yours.
    . Thank you again for inspiring me to push my creative ideas. I’m not sure I could ever be as bold as you are but I’m sure I’m going to give it ago.
    Kathleen, England.

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    1. If I was to do this again, I’d do one more row of the scrappy colors in the center. then just two rows of the blues on the outside of the block. It would bring in a little more color, which I would like.

      I love it that I’ve inspired you to try new things and do things that aren’t indoor comfort zone! I love it!!! that’s where amazing things happen!!!

      Anne

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  2. Love the addition of the new white print fabrics! The mix of light and dark makes it so exciting! Question: what kind of paper do you use for the foundation piecing? Are they easy to remove? Glad the doggies found a good stick, they’re so cute!

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    1. I bought a booklet of the paper templates on Amazon. They are printed on newsprint and it works really well. Tears and removes easily.

      I bought a ream of newsprint on Amazon a few years ago. I use it when I’m printing or drawing paper piecing templates. It works really well.

      Anne

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  3. Hi Anne,
    Sounds like a very productive weekend. The Wensleydale blocks look great.
    I spent two days sorting my disgracefully messy sewing room and ironed every – single – piece – of scrap and colour coordinated them into bags ready for the next crumb piecing session. Hopefully one more day of tidying and I’ll be happy enough with it to actually get some sewing done. Have a good week.
    Lindy

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  4. Busy weekend! Sounds like the boys got in a lot of fun. 😊 You got some great exercise in and got some time in to quilt to boot! I like the really light batik in the quilt. It really brightens it up and adds good contrast. looking forward to the finished top.

    The yard was calling this weekend and we got the raised bed up and out of the garage. Now to fill it. Shopped for trees .

    Got some of the fabric stitched for the Stummin’ quilt I am working on. So all and all a good weekend.

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    1. Hmmm. It sounds really nice to get out in the yard and get a few things done. But it still feels like winter here and it’s so wet out there! It will be a little while before I’m getting my hands dirty out there!

      I love new plants in the spring!

      Anne

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      1. I did so “winter sowing” so I am checking every couple of days to see who is sprouting and who is lagging behind. This makes me a little impatient to garden.

        We were hot on Sunday(80). My apple tree started to flower and the dogwood is blooming. Now I really getting antsy to clean things out, transplant, plant….today we’ve had rain/snow mix. Go figure.

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    1. I just happen to be ok with the waste! I love how precise paper pieced blocks are. And I really like the process of paper piecing. So that makes it work for me. I find making them almost meditative. Very relaxing.

      Different strokes, I guess! Not every method appeals to every person. You can purchase the templates to cut your fabric to piece these blocks the traditional way. All that cutting would make me nuts!

      Anne

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  6. Productive weekend!
    Wet dogs with stick.
    Quilt looking so much better with lighter fabrics.
    Hours of pickle ball.
    Sheep herding.
    I’d say you’ve used your time well.
    Good job.
    Haven’t seen any Frankenbags lately. Are people not making them anymore?
    I recently made a Stella Bag but thinking I might Frankenbag the Stella! Might be interesting…

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    1. People are still sending bags every now and again. I’m finding it a challenge to keep them organized. I’ll share them before long.

      Interesting idea to Frankenbag the Stella. My approach to making bag panels would work with lots of different bag patterns.

      Anne

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  7. I am loving this quilt, so much to look at but not too busy!
    Please share how you decide the size and shapes when preparing your ‘kits’. I would like to try precutting my shapes for any foundation piecing I may do. Thank you.

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    1. I made a couple practice blocks and refined how I’m cutting my pieces. I’m reluctant to share because it’s clunky and half-assed. And I’m wasting a good deal of fabric.

      Wanda from the Exuberant Color blog suggested tracing one of the template blocks onto freezer paper then cutting out the pieces. press the pieces to four layers of fabric and cut them out with a full half inch of extra fabric all around the edge. That sounds alike a much better plan than how I did it!

      Anne

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    1. These are paper pieced. you can buy a booklet of the template papers on Amazon. It’s Wensleydale by Jen Kingwell. it’s also in her book “Quilt Recipes.”

      Anne

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  9. Love the new fabric , you have a great gift with putting colors together. Sounds like a great weekend. Leo and I have been working on his leash reactivity , this weekend there was some improvement I’m feeling hopeful , what a challenge this is

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    1. Putting colors together really is my favorite part! I just love it!

      Good for you for all the work you’re doing with Leo! It is a huge challenge, but think of how it will improve his life!

      Anne

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    1. Thanks! It’s always helpful for me to take a photo and look at it and think about what I see… what’s missing… what it needs. It all felt sort of flat… it clearly needed more contrast. so hello dark and light!!! I’ll be making some blocks with darker blues as well. I think it will make a big difference!

      Anne

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    1. I’m enjoying sewing with the batiks. It’s been quite a while since I made a batik quilt. I do love batiks.

      Bender is very photogenic. Rico always looks like I’m torturing him! He starts lookin sad the minute I pull my phone out of my pocket!

      Anne

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  12. I got my book of Wensleydale Foundation Papers and gave it a try. It felt awkward to me, likely because I started out with the freezer paper piecing technique. So I copied the pattern and printed it out on freezer paper. I lost a bit of size since the pattern is designed for A4 paper and the only freezer paper sheets available here are US letter size. ()My carbon footprint is piggish enough without shipping 100 sheets of paper from Australia or the UK!) But now things are good, and I have nine blocks made. I’m really enjoying having the opportunity to combine so many different fabrics in a single quilt. I find myself getting less and less stifled by the fabric choices. In and of itself, I think that makes this project wonderful. Thanks for the inspiration!

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    1. I’m glad you’re making some blocks and figured out the way to make it work for yourself. I’m already thinking of what I’m going to do for the next one. All kinds of ideas running around my head!

      Anne

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    1. I guess I need to pay more attention to the lighter value batiks when I’m in fabric stores. It’s funny but I’m just not drawn to them when shopping, but find myself needing them pretty regularly!

      Anne

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  14. Yes! New whiter fabrics are a wonderful addition. I am sooo tempted by this quilt pattern but I just have sew many unfinished projects. The blocks are terrific!

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  16. The lighter o es n mixed in really make it pop! I myself lean towards the darker blues, but these added in make fabulous blocks! It’s goi g to turn out beautiful!

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  17. Rico and Bender, two very happy fur babies 🥰. Spectacular addition to your already gorgeous blocks! Sooner or later it was bound to happen – I got covid 😖. I am miserable and no energy. This too shall pass – right?

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    1. I made a couple blocks to figure out how to cut my pieces. Someone suggested that you trace the block onto freezer paper, cut out the pieces and press them onto four layers of fabric. Then cut around the pieces adding a full 1/2 inch all the way around. That sounds like a pretty good solution but you’d want to try it for yourself. My approach is very haphazard and sloppy. I’m reluctant to share it. I’m wasting more fabric than is necessary, but I don’t like having to fuss to get a piece of fabric to cover the template!

      Anne

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