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Thursday, October 31, 2013

If a Quilt Pattern is Named After a Seam Ripper...

Hi Everyone,

This is my post about this month's Schnibble.  Some of us in blogland work on an assigned Schnibble pattern by the hugely talented Carrie Nelson and then "enter" the quilts into the parade on the first of each month over at the wonderful blogs of Sinta and Sherri.  If you have a few minutes tomorrow, check it out.  It is always so much fun to see all the fabulous quilts that go on display.

Carrie has been busy lately writing new patterns.  At the end of last month, there were 4 new ones, but one stood out for me.

Clover!  All day while waiting for the parades to come up and the new pattern to be announced, I kept chanting:  Clo-ver, clo-ver, clo-ver!  I guess my mental telepathy worked because Clover was indeed the next pattern for the group!  Little did I know....

One of the reasons that I fell in love with this pattern immediately was because it looks like it is one that you can use nearly any fabric with.  The other main reason I wanted to make it was because it is downright gorgeous!  Having an immediate love-fest with a quilt can cause you to go to any lengths to make it. I once forced myself to learn needle-turn applique to make a quilt I had to have.  You are probably looking at this pattern and scoffing at me right now. "How hard can that be?" you may be saying.  Hmph....

About a year and a half ago, (or maybe longer), I was asked to make a quilt for my parent's living room.  They recently "freshened" up the room and repainted, etc.  They had a space on a wall that would be great for a wall-hanging quilt.  It just needed to "go with" the furnishings in the room to include their sofa and the new painting they had purchased.  I readily agreed and then spent a year looking for the perfect pattern, trying to get just the right thing.  As the months slipped by, it was often that I wished I could just do a Schnibble for them--but no Schnibble seemed to "feel" right for the room.  But Clover did!

I had some Bali Pop strips from a couple different packs that would match the room, so I proceeded to make my Clover with them.  The thing with Clover is that you need to cut all the small squares and lay the whole thing out on a design wall!  There are no blocks to assemble and include in a larger format. 

I will quote Carrie from the pattern instructions:  "This diagonally-set quilt is made entirely of plain squares and four-patches..."  So it sound easy, right?  You just piece a few (16) 4-patches and then sew them to plain squares--easy peasy!  Yea, don't overlook the "diagonally-set" factor here.  Carrie says she named this after her seam ripper because she wore it out as she changed her mind repeatedly about the design.  I wore mine out because it is diagonally-set and I don't know about you, but as soon as you turn something 45 degrees, I get totally confused!  So I messed up a few times on the piecing and would have to rip the entire row apart because I couldn't see where I made the mistake.  Eventually I worked out a system and finally got all the rows pieced and could start sewing the rows together. 

The only issue I had using 2.5" strips in the construction of this was that I didn't have charm squares to cut diagonally twice for the side triangles.  I considered piecing larger squares from the strips, but in the end, I wanted to use a blue fabric that matched my parent's sofa, so that worked well.  I incorporated the same blue fabric into the center 4 four-patches as well.


Now I know that you have not missed the pins that are on my Clover and the fact that it is not quilted!  I'm so upset by this.  When I decided to join in with the Schnibble group, I told myself that I was not just going to make a bunch of flimsies--if I was going to do this, I would present a finished quilt each month.  This is the first month that it hasn't happened!  I feel really bad, but my Bernina began skipping stitches as I was quilting, and that is the way "Bernie" tells me he needs his annual cleaning/adjustment.  Actually, it was nearly two years since the last, so he has been a trouper.  Anyway, my backup machine is a Janome Jem and it is small, so I couldn't quilt on it, so Clover is unfinished.

In Carrie's version, she made the center squares of each "block" out of the background fabric.  I decided to use a gray fabric in mine. 

I chose the gray to match the painting and also because I didn't have enough background fabric to cut any more squares!  I was really nervous that I wouldn't have enough of it, but by not using the center squares I had only one extra square!  Whew!

One last "issue" I had was that when I looked over the instructions, I somehow missed that Carrie said to cut all those squares 2 1/4 inches.  Since I was using a bali pop, I cut 2.5" squares.  When I realized my mistake, I had already cut all of them and arranged them all on my design wall.  Should I take them all down and trim them or make the 16 four-patch blocks a bit bigger?  Hah!  No contest there!  Since I had plenty of fabric, I made the four-patches larger.  This makes my "finished" size (since it isn't finished yet!) approximately five inches larger than the pattern!  Who would have thought a quarter inch difference could add up to 5 inches?



I hope you all have a great day!
JoAnne

22 comments:

  1. Joanne, I LOVE it!!! Great fabrics! I can understand the frustration - but it looks like it all turned out in the end!!

    Blessings

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  2. Your quilt turned out lovely Joanne. I've seen a few blogs where they too say they had to use the seam ripper for this quilt. I didn't get a chance to even think about making this quilt and now I'm very afraid to try. I would like to see another picture when you get the quilting done.

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  3. They say all's well that ends well - and yours definitely ended well. Great job.

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  4. It is a beautiful quilt--the colors are rich and gorgeous!
    I thought it was a quilt I might make, but as I read your experience I had second thoughts. : )

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  5. Finished or not, it is beautiful. Nice job!

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  6. Sounds like I was wise to opt out this month!! Your Clover is beautiful--love the colors. I hope you can get it quilted soon--seems like machine troubles only happen when there is a time crunch!

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  7. After all your work it came out beautiful ! Looking forward to seeing it quilted

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  8. Sorry you had so much trouble, but it looks great! When they announced this quilt, I was so excited to make it as well and immediately ordered my pattern. In the meantime, I started on another of her patterns 'X-Rated' which is constructed in the same way - diagonal rows. I ended up not making Clover this month, partly because it's been so busy, but also because I just couldn't face working on two diagonal quilts at the same time. I'm glad you persevered though because it really is a gorgeous quilt and looks great in those batik fabrics!

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  9. Joanne, your Clover is beautiful!! It's going to look stunning when its quilted. Hope you share pictures of it when you have it done. :)

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  10. Your Clover looks great, I bet your parents will love it. This pattern caught my eye when I first saw it too, and now I can benefit from your experience so thanks for sharing. Sounds like one of those patterns where "design wall" should be listed in the materials needed.

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  11. I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one who had trouble with a "simple" pattern! Your Clover looks great! I like the dark setting triangles.

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  12. You certainly won us OVER with your CLOVER :) Sorry...

    I love the fabrics that you chose and who doesn't love it when the quilt comes out a bit larger?!? I hope to jump on the Schnibbles train one of these days...maybe after the holidays.

    Also lovin' your instagram posts Joanne!

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  13. Just beautiful! Great minds think alike. While planning what to say about my project for my blog...the clover name was definitely going to be part of the story. Great post!

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  14. Though you had challenges making this quilt it is lovely! I love the design and the on diagonal look of the blocks. So glad you finished the top. It will be quilted soon! :-) K-

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  15. You are so right! This pattern is great with so many different fabrics - I love how yours turned out. I managed to get mine done last night - just in time for the parade today. I am curious on how you will quilt yours - will look for a future post on the complete top!

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  16. Beautiful! Great pattern and you selected fab fabrics/colors!

    Bummer about your machine needing a trip to the spa... however, it's a necessary evil when one sews a lot. Hope she's home soon, all refreshed and ready to go....


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  17. It is gorgeous JoAnne. Top marks for persistence... you will be pleased you got there in the end (well, nearly go there!!). Love the back story as to how this schnibble got its name!!!

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  18. Love it :-) And how nice that it's a little bigger :-) Isn't it amazing how a small difference can add up? I find that with seam allowances.

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  19. It looks fantastic! I'm not a huge batik fan, but the colours in your top are lovely. I have read lots of trials and tribulations on many blogs about constructing Clover. All agree with you, it's not exactly a difficult quilt, but you have to keep every single square in the right place. I have no design wall so I would be a disaster!

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