Showing posts with label 21st Century Bulls-eye Quilt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 21st Century Bulls-eye Quilt. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

More Finally Finishes for February

My Plush Phase for backing flimsies continues with my two latest finishes; Baby Bullseye (left), a fairly new project, and Yellow Rose Double Nine Patch, a UFO of at least ten years. Of course, they both have stories or explanations.
I didn’t expect  my Baby Bullseye project which I started last November to be finished way so soon but I was motivated by my other two Peeps, who joined me in making another Bullseye Quilt, almost twenty-four years later (You can read about our first Bullseye Quilt here), who were finishing their Flimsies sooner than me. I was thinking that I was going to be the last one to finish her Flimsie but it turns out I was second, just like the first  time and it was Linda and not Mary who finished first. Did you notice my use of a modern word Flimsie—twenty-four years earlier, I called it a Top. It’s also a good thing that I now have modern technology in the form of a Blog Post, iPhone pics  and numerous Texts to refer to as I recap how the second QAL went, definitely something I could have used before.
After the pattern was purchased from Mary Etherington/Country Threads, and just like the first time, the guidelines planned which were the backgrounds were to be grays and low volume whites, no tans or beiges, modern prints and blenders and definitely no calicos since the Baby Bullseye was going to be modern and the size and number of patches to be exchanged before we met for a morning of merriments which always include good food and conversation. We each exchanged 30 squares of backgrounds and prints in two sizes and most notably there were no duplicates. One Peep did have not much of a modern stash but did provide the blenders which were definitely needed for a bit of calm in the blocks. We were a little bit more looser with the pattern, after all we are older, a littler more ornery with more quilting experience by changing the size of the blocks and one peep exchanging pre-cut circles and quarter circle templates to cut the circles from the folded squares which made the Baby Bullseye blocks less wonky. I will admit that I made a mistake with the Baby Bullseye pattern by not realizing that the backgrounds on Mary Etherington’s  Baby Bullseye  Quilt was not neutral but were different color prints which I love and wished I did. But in my defense, I did write if I ever were to make another Bullseye quilt I would use grays and low volume prints so my mind was already set. After the exchange was made, we each sewed our own way, texting each other with our progress. I would like to mention that my Baby Bullseye is almost true to the pattern unlike the Peeps. I think they were a little bit more ornier than me.
Baby Bullseye was so named because it is a smaller block with only two circles sewn on the background which would have been enough if we used the sizes given for the pattern. But because the sizes was increased for both the background and circles and after playing around with the first four blocks sewn, I thought a third circle could be added, especially after having the left over circles from cutting away the backs of the first circle after the second circle was sewn which was the perfect size for the third circle. I am going to narc on the Peeps now since they kept their circle blocks intact without quartering them so they made their flimsy with whole circle blocks which is why they were finishing before me. I should narc some more by saying one of the Peeps did not cut away her circles. Although I liked the look of the whole circle blocks and was tempted to do it myself,  I’m glad I quartered my blocks although it was a lot more sewing but  I do love the scrappiness which is eye candy to me.
I sewed 140 Bullseye block which was way more than needed but then I hadn’t decided on a layout. After deciding to sew them as nine-patch blocks and making twelve of these blocks, a sashing of a gray dot on black was definitely needed. If I could change anything, it would be the cheddar yellow cornerstones since it looks like post-it notes but thankfully with all of the eye candy it’s not too noticeable, right? While I was sewing the flimsy together, I did sing Baby Bullseye to the tune of Baby Sharks doo, doo, doo,  doo.
One of the big challenges for me to finally finish my Baby Bullseye was deciding how to machine quilt and if it was going to be a quilt or a throw. Before the blocks were sewn together I played with the idea of making it a rag quilt but decided that there would be too much fraying and decided to make it a patchwork throw. It helped that I purchased yardage of a Smokey Gray Plush Minky Dot last summer and also seemed to be in a Plush Phase right now, especially when you see the next throw. I did pin baste 3” apart since I wanted to avoid any shifting since the flimsy was almost as wide as the Plush and it seems like that took forever but was worth it. Machine quilting with straight lines on the black sashing and cross-hatched  wavey lines on the center of each bullseye block was a little challenging especially with the circle seams sometime flipping over and being careful not to sew over it. When I was sewing the circles onto the background, I wasn’t so willy-nilly with the seams like the first Bullseye quilt and tried to sew within a 1/4” seam allowance by remembering the flipping seams. I now know how my long arm machine quilter who did my first Bullseye felt and her frustration and quite possibly her Karma was paying me back. 
The Baby Bullseye Patchwork Throw measures 56”x74”and is a perfect lounge size for the couch which is where it will be laying for awhile before deciding if I should wash it. I do like the way it looks right now without the fraying but as Mary Etherington says it’s not a true Bullseye until you wash it. BTW, I never washed the first Bullseye Quilt which is still happily sitting on my quilt rack. To think the Peeps and I did the first Bullseye QAL together twenty-four years ago when we were just mothers of eight school age and young adults and now grandmothers of sixteen grandchildren between us (allow me a little sniffle and a tinge of envy here because I only have the darling granddaughter), I am grateful we still are friends with fabric who still quilt whenever we can. I think our grandchildren take precedent over quilt time now.  I did mention in a text to the Peeps that with modern medicine working on longevity that it may be possible to live until we’re 120 years old, we could do another Bulls-eye QAL in twenty-four years and maybe after that. And wouldn’t that be a fun project for the retirement home. I did insert three big laughing emojis.
Before I started working on the Baby Bullseye quilt, I finished the Yellow Roses Double Nine-Patch Patchwork Throw.  After the Granddaughter Quilt #1 was finished earlier this month, I was reminded of  this flimsie which was made at least ten years ago from a Henry Glass fabric collection called Possibilities and was designed by Nancy Smith and Lynda Milligan which was purchased twenty years ago. I loved this rose print as much as the Sweet Rose print and after sitting in my stash then for ten years I finally made a quick flimsy with big plain and double nine patch blocks measuring 13.5” finish just to alleviate some quilt guilt. Thanks to Eunice, my quilt alter ego who remembers what I should be sewing,  I finally finish it by making it a patchwork throw by using a pretty butter yellow Mindy Dot Plush I had in my stash which was the perfect shade although it’s hard to tell from the pic. I’m glad this is a finally finish and looking forward to using it as a new travel blanket. With the Three Bear Throws finished in January and these two for February, I have now finished five Patchwork Throws/Baby Boomer Blankies which I’m calling a Royal Plush. BTW, Eunice has now gone from time-out to Jail and won’t be released for awhile since I have some new projects.
Along with a secret project for Demando who is recovering nicely from his recent hip replacement surgery, I have to start working on my project for the Villa Rosa Designs Fast & More Fun Blog Hop. My fabrics has been picked and ready for die-cutting, the pattern reviewed and I am looking forward to working on it because, surprise, it will be for the darling Granddaughter. Maybe that’s how I find time to quilt if I always say it’s for her. Insert Big Wink Emoji.


Thursday, January 11, 2018

Throwback Thursday: My 21st Century Bulls-eye Quilt

Sandra of mmm! Quilts is hosting or as she is calling it "babysitting" the Throwback Thursday Linky Party which I am happy to be participating for the very first time. I've only been blogging since October, 2016 and may have come across a few posts while scrolling through Blogland but may not have know what this linky party was all about until I read Sandra's posts (you can read about it here) and (here) and thought that this something I could do. After all, one of the reasons why I started blogging was so I could better explain some of my quilts which I couldn't do on Pinterest nor Facebook.  I've been quilting for over twenty years and some of my quilts were made with stories. The quilt I thought I share my first story on Throwback Thursday is my 21st Century Bulls-eye Quilt.
There's a number of reasons why I thought this quilt would make a good story because it was started at almost the end of the 20th Century (1999) and finished right at the almost beginning of the 21st Century (2000) and was made by three quilting friends and myself which at that time we didn't realize this was a QAL.  We were inspired by the cover quilt on the book Quilts by Aunt Amy written by Mary Etherington and Connie Tesene whom I now know personally and I've done some QALs and fabric exchanges, willing and unwilling with them.
At this time, we're talking traditional quilting being the way norm, the Bulls-Eye quilt was so "radical" (I don't think the word "modern" was used then) with the raw edge appliqué and the wonkiness (and I also think "improv" wasn't used too) of the circles, cut freehand not matching up.  I loved this quilt as soon as I saw it and appealed to me as the failed appliquér and somewhat a rebel because I didn't prewash my fabrics.  So, the four of us came up with some ground rules once we decided we wanted to make this quilt and to the best of my recollection this is what we did:
  • we had a fabric exchange party when we swapped squares of light and printed fabrics in a certain size of what we considered "ugly" fabrics which were the calicos, florals, reproductions and the "inexpensive" which also meant no new fabric was suppose to be bought; we had to use stash-- sort of ahead of our quilt time, weren't we?
  • the circles were precut and the different sizes were placed in separate bags and you had to use the one pulled and the only time you could put it back was if it was the same color as the previous circle--fun, right?
  • we agreed that the circles would be sewn with a running stitch and not a fancy stitch like a zig-zag, etc; after all speed was part of the plan
  • we exchanged quarter circle blocks within a certain time frame so the Bulls-eye blocks could be made 
I thought I add a little tidbit about what happened after we exchanged the quarter circle blocks is that the one who complained the most about making this quilt was the first one to complete her top and another one who thought she would be the second one to be done was overtaken by me who rounded the corner and beat her to the finish line.  To this day, these two are still my dearest peeps and we still get together but not very often does it involve quilting.
Here are some close-ups where you can get a better look at the wonderful wonkiness and "ugly" but interesting fabrics used in making the Bulls-eye blocks.  Part of the fun in making this quilt was that the edges of the circles would fray after washing and as you can see, I never washed it because this quilt is a permanent fixture on my quilting rack and doesn't get used.  My quilt was sent to a longarm quilter who was just starting her business and she quilted it with wonderful swirls.  She did mention that the quilting wasn't easy because the edges of the circles would flip over and she would have to pin them down.  I worked with her then at the quilt shop and she may have sent me some daggers with her eyes. I think she may have said she never wanted to quilt another Bulls-eye quilt which may have been hard for her to refuse because these quilts were getting popular to make.
My 21st Century Bulls-eye Quilt is one of the very few quilts I made that I've labeled and the reason for doing this, remember this was made during traditional quilt time and there was a lot of talk about preserving our quilt history,  I envisioned this quilt being one of few of mine which survived in the far future and possibly people wondering what was I thinking when this quilt was made.  I figured I save them some research time and also to let them know I wasn't crazy then when this quilt was made.  Sorry, I blocked out the names of the other quilters in order to protect their sanity.  Looking back now with the modern quilt techniques well into place, this quilt really doesn't need any explanation (modern versions of this quilt are being made) except maybe for the fabrics which are so yesterday, but  I might add, I still love looking at them.
Around ten years after the first Bulls-eye quilt was made, I made a second one with the leftovers from the first one and additional "ugly" fabrics accumulated since then as part of a UFO Challenge which Mary and Connie hosted in 2012 or 2013.  I might mention, making a Bulls-eye quilt is like starter dough for a friendship cake, the circles you cut just keep on going, you'll understand once you know the construction method. The second quilt, laying on the chair, is still not finished and I've been tempted to finished it with simple quilting in the ditch.  It would be too funny if I happened to find the longarm quilter who quilted the first one and jokingly ask her if she would be willing to quilt the second one for me--funny, but not nice.

The 21st Century Bulls-eye Quilt was really a lot of fun to make and it is a great way to use up the stash.  I'm thinking I could make one with "modern" fabrics against gray and low volume fabrics since I've built up quite a stash of these fabrics now.  This definitely would make a great DREAMi project.
To paraphrase a line from the 50's TV Series "Naked City", there are eight million quilt stories out there, this has been one of them.  I'll be linking up with Sandra and hopefully you will join in the Throwback Linky party with one of your stories.