Posted on by agilejack

Another Spontaneous Project Underway

I’ve had a package of blue Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics in my closet for at least a year now. I had planned to make an all blue version of the Jewel Frames quilt. Here’s my very colorful Jewel Frames quilt.

The longer that packet of fabric sat in my closet, the less interested I became in making this quilt in a blue version.

But while I was working on my Fresh Start scrappy quilt I had an idea. What if I replicated that pattern but doing it in a less scrappy way, and what if I used those blue fabrics? I’ve been noodling over this idea for a few days and decided to dive in tonight.

So the first thing I did was dig into all those blue fabrics and selected the ones I wanted to use. I wanted prints that felt more light and airy as that’s the feeling I want this quilt to have. Here’s what I ended up with.

You can see that all the fabrics I selected are a lighter tone and they all have some white in the print. No deep and dark saturated blues in this group. This sort of gives it the airy feeling I want.

I wanted to make the blocks a little smaller than the 9.5 inch blocks in my Fresh Start quilt so I could easily make the quilt symmetrical while maintaining the generous throw size. So I pulled out my rulers to do some cyphering.

These three rulers allowed me to determine the size of the block, the size of the center strip and the size of the corner triangles.

With that all figured out I started pressing and cutting.

I had planned to use the royal blue Roman glass as the border on the Jewel Frames block with the blue and white sharks tooth as the wider sashing. For this block I’m using the roman glass as the strips along the center of the block and the sharks tooth for the corner triangles of each block.

Here’s the first completed block before and after being squared up.

It goes together in exactly the same way as my Fresh Start blocks. but everything is a little different in size. I cut the center strip from one piece of fabric rather than piecing it. And I cut it 4 inches wide rather than 3.5 inches wide. I cut the strips on either side at 1.5 inches and didn’t trim the strip before adding the triangle. And it worked well.

The triangles were a bit of a challenge. I wanted the squares where the four corners come together to be interesting and consistent from corner to corner. So it took a little bit of figuring out to get it right. Before I cut the squares on the diagonal I folded the fabric and laid the folded pieces out with the block centers to replicate the effect I wanted.

I wanted the sharks tooth to sort of spiral around where the corners come together. And I like this effect. I was happy to figure it out but it made my brain hurt a little.

I basically had to line up all the squares of the sharks tooth the exact same way and cut them all on the same diagonal. I took this photo so I could refer to it every time I cut these squares.

They will all be stacked and cut the same way to maintain that spiral. Sharks tooth points up. Diagonal cut from lower left to upper right.

Once I had that all figured out I dug in and made 8 blocks. They went together pretty quickly.

I’m really liking how this is looking. And it should just get more and more interesting with every additional fabric design I add. I really love the effect of that sharks tooth were those corner pieces come together.

But there is one rogue block that is just wrong. I’ve isolated the block in this photo. the sharks tooth in this block isn’t rotating in the same way as the rest of the intersections.

It must have rotated this block four or five times before I realized that it just wasn’t going to be right, no matter how many times I turned it. So now it was necessary to figure out what I had done wrong so I wouldn’t do it again.

It took a few minutes but I figured it out. When I cut the first set of blocks from the sharks tooth I turned them all right side up as I lined them up for cutting. With the second set I left half face up and half face down, just as they were stacked to cut. This basically means that for the fabrics that are right side down, the diagonal was cut in the wrong direction, changing the orientation of the print.

So half of these triangles are not usable and will go in my scrap bin and will probably end up in a bag or as crumb piecing. Luckily it wasn’t a ton of fabric and I will now have this mistake emblazoned on my brain. I won’t make this mistake again.

And, of course, a little eye candy.

We’ve had a couple of warm and wet days this week. There is water standing all over my yard and all over the streets. Warm and wet weather this time of year is perfect for frogs and they were really singing tonight! They didn’t make a peep last week when they were under ice!

Tomorrow is Friday. It will be a hectic day as one of the people on my team at work is out of the office dealing with a family health emergency. She is a key person in our on air fundraising drives and we have a drive starting next week. So we are scrambling at the last minute to make sure we’re ready to go. I’m hoping to take a breath this weekend.

77 Replies to “Another Spontaneous Project Underway”

  3. Wow! What a gorgeous quilt this will be! The rotating sharks tooth fabric where all the blocks come together is a genius idea. The swirling effect is interesting on its own, gives the illusion of depth, and makes the blues pop. You always come up with such creative and colorful ideas. I’m looking forward to seeing this one finished!!! I hope Friday goes well as your team prepares for next week. Having a teammate out is always a challenge.

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  6. I am always amazed at your work, but this time I’m in awe!
    You have so much talent in fabric choices, pattern making, and teaching!
    I really love what you’re doing with these blocks and fabrics, especially the movement of the shark’s tooth.
    I thoroughly enjoy and look forward to your posts.
    Thank you!!
    Joanne Toetz

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    1. Wow, thanks! I really love putting fabrics and colors together the most. it’s really what I enjoy about quilting. I also love to figure things out. have an idea and figure out a way to make it happen. that’s really fun for me.

      That sharks teeth is pretty special!

      Anne

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  8. I just love the sharks tooth spirals! Beautiful use of all the blues! I have a FQ bundle of Marcia Derse sitting in my stash for about a year, too, and might have to try this out using those! Working on a Kaffe Autumn Postcard quilt now….Youza!

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      1. I’m on the flying geese border too. Not the best directions but just found the video tutorials last night. Although I am not making the flying geese one at a time as she recommends. 4 at a time for me! Good luck!

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      2. Those videos are a big help! I am a glutton for punishment so am making them 1 at a time….not too bad via chain piecing. I had to really pay attention to my seam allowance accuracy, though. Talk about slow stitching…

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      3. talk about being a glutton for punishment…..have you ever seen/heard of the 52 week quilt project called Aves? I started that 2 weeks ago and it’s a real “interesting” one. It’s really testing my patience and skills.
        Making that one out of a lot of AGF fabrics from my stash.

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      5. It’s a lot of paper piecing so far…..well, I do freezer paper piecing because I don’t like tearing the papers off. I can’t figure out how to send you a photo.

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  12. Really luv the colors so soft yet bold , I’ve been working on FMQ on my domestic machine what a fun challenge it has become . I’m ready to do some piecing again , your project looks like a lot of fun

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  16. Awesome idea Anne…those spiralling shark teeth are the bomb! I can’t believe you have spring peepers already…will expect them here a few weeks later (I am right on the USA/Canada border). Love to hear them at night.

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  17. Beautiful ♥️ I love those blue feathers. Ouch, it makes my head hurt just thinking about how hard you were thinking to get it all correct! Hi Rico and Bender 🥰🥰🥰

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  22. Anne, you amaze me with your ability to see the fabrics and how they work together, and also figuring out the math and the spiraling sharks teeth….yowsa you are talented! I love this blue quilt and can’t wait to see it finished.
    I’m in Canada ( Alberta) and we have a ton of snow. We just came out of 2 weeks of deep freeze and having a Chinook now before another round of cold 🥶. I wouldn’t want what you’ve been through though. Have fun seeing this weekend

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    2. Thanks! I really love putting colors and fabrics together. I love that moment when something surprises me because it’s soooo good!

      I’m glad we only have occasional cold in the winter. It’s been a long time since I lived with that extended snow and cold and I don’t miss it!

      I do miss the pretty snow storms that don’t try to kill you, however. Ours are so dangerous and scary!

      Anne

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  24. This quilt is going to be gorgeous! Your choice of colours and prints is so inspiring, and if there were an award for ‘best design use of shark’s teeth’ you would definitely win – what an innovation!

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    1. I love putting colors and fabrics together. it’s really my favorite part.

      I’ve seen some pretty fun stuff done with the sharks teeth but I think I may have invented something new!

      Anne

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      1. You definitely have created something new!

        I’m curious as to whether you’ve tried the method of adding both corner triangles at the same time that I suggested when you were doing the crumb version of this block…

        Rachel

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      2. I don’t remember seeing that comment and I’ve searched my blog and don’t see it anywhere. I hope you can provide the info again. I’m curious as to how it’s done.

        Anne

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      3. Hi Anne, I’m sorry my alternative corner method got lost somewhere in cyberspace!

        I was responding to discussions of how to ensure the bias edges of the corner triangles didn’t stretch, and wondering if you could do it essentially the way we do 2 at a time HSTs:

        • instead of cutting your background squares into triangles, just draw a line on the diagonal
        • place 2 of the block centers, one on each side of the line, centering the borders over the drawn diagonal line (pin if desired)
        • sew 1/4″ both sides of the line, then cut on the drawn line – just like an HST

        This should keep it from stretching and save the time it takes to starch.

        I haven’t tried it, as I’m away from my sewing studio at present, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work to stabilize those edges.

        Let me know if you try it and how it goes!

        Rachel

        P.S. I thought of it when I saw your borders lined up on both sides of the crumb centre, touching each other!

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      4. You could probably figure out a way to do that but I’m not convinced it would be any less complicated or involved than what I’m doing now. The complication is that the triangles are sewn onto the sashing strips… not onto a larger piece of fabric. So you’d have to double the size of your sashing strips. plus seam allowances, then you’d have to get it centered perfectly on that little piece. Sounds like it wouldn’t be very easy. But you should try it and let me know how it goes!

        Anne

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      5. Re the alternative method for adding the triangles, I don’t think I explained myself very well! It wouldn’t involve changing the sashing strips at all, but I don’t think I can explain it better without doing it and taking photos, which I can’t do now as I’m on holiday.

        So I will try it sometime and let you know how it goes, or maybe someone else on here wants to give it a try…

        Rachel

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  25. Whoa, Anne, Amazing beauty in another of your creations! I’m just over crest of the NC WA Cascades & it’s been an odd winter. We do have a resident froggy, that hangs out under cabin & talks to me n my dog. i’ve learned to speak frog…last summer, we had a project that could have hurt it, so i walked it to lake beach boulders where wild flowers grow between. Frog was black, just under entry stoop, local gravel is white quartz, it turned almost white, slowly walking to beach, set it on light grey granite flat boulder & turned light grey. I’ve seen green frog in the plants. My 3rd winter having it under SE cabin corner w/ 4’ snow & ice slabs that calve off roof-actually is a heat & wind barrier nestled around cabins. Two swans didn’t leave again! Rained a bit yesterday. Current temps are Not in negatives now! Keep Making, & exploring All,
    ardine 😉

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    1. I didn’t know they could change colors! Ours can be soooo loud. And they can throw their voices so it’s really hard to figure out where they really are.

      Our had been really mild until the ice and wind storms we had two weeks ago. And now it’s warm and wet again.

      hoping for an early spring!

      Anne

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  28. Anne, when you say you had a package of Kaffe Collective blues, could you tell me what, fat quarters, 1/2 yards, 10 in. squares? Or possibly how much yardage of blues I would need? I would love to look for some. This quilt is so pretty and goes together fast it seems, especially since you figured out the swirl centers!!! Love it! Pam

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    1. I’ve been thinking about making a blue KFC quilt for some time so had pulled a bunch of blue fabrics from my stash. So they were mostly half yards with some larger pieces. I bought pre-cuts when I was new to quilting but I don’t buy them any more. I really like putting my own fabrics together.

      This is a pretty quick make… at least it is for me!

      Anne

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    2. Oh, I used 8 half yards of the blues for the center strips and didn’t have a lot left over. I didn’t calculate the yardage for the sharks teeth. If you to and look at my blog post from yesterday I replied to someone with a bit of a calculation for the sharks teeth.

      You’ll have to scroll down to the comments at this link:

      80 Blue blocks are Done!

      Anne

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  29. another great quilt. Love the blues.

    today as I was reading my emails I came across something that immediately made me think of you. At Keepsake Quilting they have a kit for a pickle ball bag to carry your paddles and balls. Cute pickle ball fabric too.

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    1. Thanks. I’ll check it out.

      I’ve actually been thinking about designing my own. I have very specific things I want after using the one I have for a couple years.

      Anne

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