"Whit Beyond Measure is Life's Greatest Treasure"

Hi Everyone,

I'm still here!  As of right now, though, I've packed up most of my quilting things from my tiny apartment.  I've finished what I started and it is nearly time to get busy at our new house, doing painting and such.

One of the projects that I finished was this month's Schnibble.  In case you don't know, there is a group of quilters here online who like to make the same pattern each month, and it is often a Schnibble pattern by Carrie Nelson.  This month, the selection was one of her Little Bites patterns instead.  She uses 5" charm squares for her Schnibble quilts, but for Little Bites, she uses the 2.5" candy squares.  Anyone who is interested in making the "assigned" pattern can do so and then send a photo (and a link if you blog) to Sinta at the Pink Pincushion or Sherri at A Quilting Life.  They have parades on the first of the month featuring all the quilts as well as announcing the next project.

The pattern for this month is called "Whit."  It requires making tiny flying geese.  I love flying geese, and making them smaller wasn't any problem for me.  Once made, you could place the geese into three different arrangements.  "Whit" is a word describing a small amount--Carrie uses synonyms of tiny bits for all of her Little Bites projects.  I love that!

This is my completed "Whit" quilt.

 I used some charm squares from a Minick and Simpson line which I cut down from 5" into  2.5" squares.  Sometimes I find it tricky to decide on a background color  to go with my charm squares.  It was especially difficult with this line.  It seemed that nearly half of the fabrics in the collection were tan or cream, then there were navy, red, and a medium blue.  I decided to pull out the medium blues and then used a medium blue solid for the background of my geese units.

In Carrie's version of this same quilt, she used an Essex Linen for the large background areas (the navy blue in my quilt.)  I have seen several different quilts being made with this linen, and it intrigued me.  The fabric is a blend of linen and cotton.  When I found some in Virginia, I got some yardage of two colors, navy and a natural/tan.  It being linen, is more "beefy" than cotton, but not hugely so.  I was really afraid it would ravel much more than cotton, but actually, the Kona was worse.

Once I had the top all together, I quilted it.  I would have liked to have quilted straight lines, but I don't have my walking foot with me, so I just did a small meander.  First I tried using navy thread, but it looked terrible over the geese, so luckily I stopped before I had done too much, but it still meant a lot of ripping.   I ended up using a dark gray--it isn't as noticeable on the navy or the geese.

Once I had the quilting complete, I began trimming it.  And then I realized that I had forgotten to put the outer border strips on!!!  It should have had 2" navy strips all the way around.  Good Grief.  Luckily, I looked at it and decided it was okay "as is."

While working on this project, I kept trying to think of a clever name, playing on the word, "whit."  I briefly considered substituting the "W" for an "S," as that word may have slipped out when I needed to rip out quilting AND when I discovered the missing border, but that  wouldn't be nice.  While I was stitching down the binding, suddenly this phrase popped into my head:  "Wit beyond measure is life's greatest treasure."  If you are a fellow Harry Potter fan, you will recognize it as the engraving on Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem.  I thought it very appropriate for this quilt if I changed wit to whit.  I especially like the "beyond measure" as mine is not the same measurements as Carrie's, since it is missing the border.

Meanwhile, today is THE DAY when we finally close on our house, so I'm really excited!  Have a wonderful day!

JoAnne

Hook-ed

Hi Everyone,

Thank you everyone for your feedback on my post yesterday!  It was a fun day to read all of your lovely comments.  I will take pictures of my visit to the quilt museum and share them with you.

Also, don't forget that you have until midnight tonight to leave a comment on this post in order to have a chance to win the giveaway.  I will announce the winner on Monday.

This month's Schnibble pattern was Hook.


The pattern was announced during the big Mid-Atlantic Quilt Fest.  I already had the pattern so I got it out to read and discovered that a 60 degree ruler would help make things easier and then I realized I didn't have one, so we went back to the show on Sunday so I could purchase one.

Sometimes I have a hard time choosing what fabric to use, and sometimes it is easy.  This month's choice was easy.  I opened up my drawer of charm packs, and Bakesale, by Lori Holt, was practically shouting "pick me, pick me!" So I did.  I have lots of solid white to put with the charms.

When I look at the quilt on the cover of Carrie's pattern, above, I see lots of white space.  I know that appeals to lots of you out there, but for some reason, it wasn't appealing to me.  Luckily, I had seen another version of Hook that Carrie made in which she chose to place another fabric as the plain triangle.

The idea of using another fabric appealed to me, and I knew just which one!  I had yards and yards of a Lori Holt striped fabric from a previous line, and it would coordinate perfectly with Bakesale.  So I got to work.  The way that Carrie instructs you to make and cut the pieced triangle star points is just brilliant!  I loved making them.  I assembled the half-block units and lined them up on my design wall.  I cut the alternate triangles from the striped fabric, and...   ... hated them!  The stripe is complex so it looked all chopped and busy.  I didn't really have enough of any other Lori Holt fabric to use and I still didn't want to use more white, so it hung out on the design wall for a while.

About a week later, I realized that I had some red solid.  One of the charms squares I used in making the star points was solid red, so I replaced those with some others and then cut red triangles and put them in place.  Oh boy!  The quilt started singing!!

Then the fun in the construction of this project came to a screeching halt.  It wasn't that it was hard, it was just that you needed to press seams open.  I don't enjoy that.  And then sewing the long rows together, I had to be careful to match the points.

Using fork pins helped.  But not much.  I ripped out a few places and redid some bits of seams to fix some problem areas, and slowly I got it all together.  After that, it was easy to piece the leftover strips in order to make an inner border and then the quilt was all together.

I love the bright, happy, vintage look to Lori's fabrics!  I did sneak in a few scraps of Sew Cherry (from another past fabric line.)

It would have been a great quilt to stitch in the ditch, but wherever the points meet up, there is quite a lump of fabric, so I just took the easy way out and meandered all over it.

I was able to use the striped fabric as the binding!

If you want to see more versions of this quilt, head on over to Sinta's and Sherri's blogs on the first!  They will also be announcing the pattern for April.

Have a great day,
JoAnne

February's Schnibble

Hi Everyone,

I'm taking a break from the quilt festival to write about my Schnibble for this month.  Last night was the one and a half hour preview of the show for those who were preregistered.  We spent the time cruising by the vendors to see what we may want to go back too later, and yes, we shopped a bit, too.

This month's Schnibble was "Quilter's Choice."  It could be any Schnibble pattern as long as it wasn't a quilt that you already shared on a parade before.  I decided to make "Short Story" from one of Carrie's books, but there is also a pattern of it.  It looks like spools, and is a really fun  block to make.  Carrie is so clever in figuring out how to make it from charm squares.  Once you get the units ready to make the block, everything nestles perfectly together!

I used Midwinter Reds by Minick and Simpson but used a dark blue as my background.  This happens to be Moda Bella American Blue.  (Would I choose any other shade of blue if one of my choices is called American?  I think not!)

It was a gorgeous day on Sunday--nearly 70 degrees, so my husband and I took it out to photograph it.  

This is along the James River.  

I really love this quilt.  I know it is going to stay at my house!  

The parades on the first are going to be fantastic!  Normally I love the parades to see all the versions of the same quilt, but these are going to be fabulous to see all the different quilts!  If you want to see them for yourself, visit Sherri or Sinta.  They do such a great job putting them together and I'm sure parade day is chaotic for them!

Today will be a full day of the show.  I'm expecting to have really sore feet by the end of it.  I hope you all have a great day!
JoAnne

The Maine Event Round 3--My Monthly Schnibble

Hi Everyone,

This is another post that I wrote prior to going on the retreat.  Before I left, I finished my January Schnibble, the pattern called "Jersey Girl."  I first wrote about this project here where I discussed the plan I had and the reason I was naming it "The Maine Event."   I had a second post about it here.  During the final construction, I was alerted by a reader, Hildy, that there was a typo in the pattern about the size to cut the sashing strips.  It should read 1.5" x 10" instead of 10"x 10."

I'm really, really pleased with how it came out.  If you recall, I used charm packs of Kansas Troubles Harvest Moon line and decided to make them into leaves.  I did so to reference our quilt show that we had last fall--the logo was a leaf block and I made the ribbons that were awarded out of Harvest Moon fabric, too.

I needed more background squares than the charm packs provided, so I went into my fabric stash and pulled out whatever seemed to be the same color.  I have been inspired by the "low value" quilts that are appearing in blogland and how backgrounds with lots of pattern are being used effectively, so I challenged myself to use whatever was the right color--no matter the pattern.

Consequently, there are parts of a panel that featured the title page of "Common Sense."

And also some quilt blocks.

There are also lots of bits of other background-type fabric.  I really love the results!

When I finished the top and did the quilting, I decided that the binding needed something special.  Did you notice it in the photos above?

A year ago, I asked for readers to send me photos of their favorite bindings.  Marti, from 52 Quilts shared a tutorial she had done to make this binding.  It is completely machine sewn and features a faux flange detail.  I followed her tutorial and it was great.  It was really easy to do and I love the way it looks.  It made a wider binding than I normally use (I cut my strips at 2" and fold them in half typically) but I felt this quilt, with all of the background fabric, could really use a spectacular, slightly "beefy" binding.

I think it looks divine on my divan.

If you remember my original post, I decided on the title:  The Maine Event, because I was going to be meeting a good blogfriend, Regan, from Floating on a Quilted Cloud, while she was visiting the area.  Unfortunately, it was supposed to happen on Wednesday, the day we awoke to our dumping of snow--so it didn't happen.  We have promised to try again one day, and even though we didn't meet, we got to chat on the phone.

To see all of the Jersey Girl Schnibbles, be sure to visit Sinta and Sherri for the parade on the first of the month.  I always enjoy seeing all the different variations.

Have a great weekend!  Hopefully I won't be too tired from my retreat and can be back on Monday to share all about it.

JoAnne

The Maine Event Round 2

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday was spent attending a meeting, running errands, doing laundry, etc. so not only did I not write a post, but I also didn't get any sewing done.  It rained all morning, too.  Today is bright and sunny and cold--we are finally starting to feel the effects of the polar vortex (what we used to call a cold front?)  We are only in the teens, but I know that many of you have been much, much colder.  I hope you are all keeping warm!!!

I did make some progress working on the new Schnibble over the weekend, though.  Usually I work on them "privately" and reveal them at the end of the month, but this time I'm sharing more of the process with you.  I previously shared how I came up with my plan and the new name for this one.  Today I'm showing some progress.

Remember that Carrie was inspired in her Jersey Girl by the maple leaf block, and that inspired me to make her blocks back into leaf blocks, so I have to make a few changes to the directions of the pattern.  I first made all of the half square triangles as the pattern directs but I have to proceed differently for the four-patch center of the leaf.

I did follow her directions to get the two-patch dark unit.  But instead of repeating that with the other dark strips and the light strips, I had to cut the light strips into squares and do the stems.  For them, I cut 1" x 3" rectangles from several charms squares.  I pressed the rectangles in half, and then opened it back up and pressed the edges into the center crease, and then pressed it all closed again--you know, like double-fold bias tape, only much narrower.  I top-stitched them diagonally across the light squares.  I did not make other two-patch units with them, though, I left them and a pile of the the dark squares so that I could be more flexible in my layout.

Usually I am fairly random in my placements with a scrappy look and hope that they all turn out alright.  This time, I did some random, and some planned, so I knew I would have a nice mix in all of my leaf blocks.

Here is one of the "exploded" leaf blocks.  The quilt pattern groups them together in sets of 4, and it just so happens that 4 fit on one of those portable design boards I was working on last month.

Here is a set of 4 all ready to take to my sewing machine.  In the finished quilt, they will be turned different directions, but for this piecing step, I wanted them going all the same direction.

Sometimes when using a charm pack, it is challenging to lay out the quilt without having too similar fabrics too close together.  (At least it is for me.)  But by using this Kansas Troubles line, I had plenty of darks to choose from.  I did need to supplement the background colors from my stash, though.

I had enough boards to lay out all 9 4-leaf groups!

The boards stack up nicely to carry to my machine.

Hopefully they will get sewn together today!

Have a great day and keep warm!

JoAnne

January's Schnibble

Hi Everyone,

It is a new year and a new month, so consequently, there is a new Schnibble.  This month's pattern is the one I guessed it might be.  Jersey Girl.

I borrowed this picture from Carrie's website, and if you immediately fell in love with it, as did I, you can find the pattern there, by clicking here.

I really did guess that this would be our Schnibble.  Along about Christmas, I showed my husband the picture and said, "I bet this is going to be the next Schnibble--you mark my words."  As if I really thought my husband would: 1.  pay attention to what I was saying and 2.  Remember the picture of a random quilt.  I was seriously surprised the other night, though, when I had the pattern open on my computer and he said, "That looks like Jersey Girl.  Is it your Schnibble?" (He finally figured out how to pronounce that word after butchering it mercilessly the past few years.)  Well, I tried not to let the surprise show on my face and instead did a triumphant, "Yes it is!  I was right!"  Then I thought I would throw him for another loop and said, "I'm considering making it in Grant Park."  Hah!  That would confuse him again.  He would think Grant was a name or a person or that I was somehow going to make this in a park.  But you could have knocked me over with a feather when he said, "Oh yeah, that fabric you got for the block of the month!"  Okay, I guess he won that round, even though I didn't know there was any competition going on.

Actually, I wasn't really feeling Grant Park for Jersey Girl.  Carrie made it as a two-color quilt.  I figured out right away, that unless you have a two-color fabric line, it was going to require more than the 2 usual charm packs.  I went upstairs and looked through my charm packs, but I wasn't getting inspired.  I briefly considered Indigo Crossing, as it is a 2-color line, but it wasn't making a strong impression.  I love the quilt as is, made with Midwinter Reds, but I wanted to do something "my own" this time.  Besides, I just made Countdown to Christmas, and while it wasn't made with Midwinter Reds, it was made with MR-inspired fabrics from my stash.  That reminds me--I finished the quilting and binding.

 I LOVE this quilt.  Look what I found for the backing:

More red and light--candy canes and peppermint candies.  I love the bit of "Christmas" it adds to the quilt, since there wasn't a single bit on the front.

But back to the Schnibble.  Since I wasn't really "feeling" anything, I decided to read the pattern.  I love to read patterns, but Carrie's are great as she usually talks about how she came up with the name.  This pattern is no exception--I'll let you read the story on your own, but the conclusion is that she named it after her mother, who was from New Jersey.  It was a sweet story, but still no inspiration.

And then she had me!  In her opening paragraph, she said that this block was inspired by a maple leaf block.  I've been wanting a fall-like, hopefully leaf-based Schnibble.  Back when I made the ribbons for the quilt show, I knew I would have fabric left over.  I used some of the Kansas Troubles line, Harvest Moon, because it had a lovely tone-on tone leaf print in a variety of colors.  Anyway, at the same time, I got some charm packs of the line thinking I could make a Schnibbles quilt that would remind me of the quilt show.

I normally keep the name of the Schnibble for my quilt, but in this case, I don't think Jersey Girl is going to work for a fall/leaf quilt.  I don't think of fall foliage when I think of New Jersey.  No, the state that comes to mind for fall color is Maine.  So, what does Maine remind me of?  I've never been there, and I don't really know anyone from there, except my blog friend Regan.  Do you know Regan?  She was one of my very first blog friends and followers.  And as it happens, she is going to be in the area this month and we are going to get a chance to meet and spend some time fabric shopping, etc.  I am really looking forward to it have the day marked out on my calendar--it is going to be quite an event.  Hey!  Event!  Are you thinking what I'm thinking?  The title for this Schnibble is going to be The Maine Event!

Wow, now that I have a pattern, a plan, and a name, I need to go get cutting!

Have a great day!
JoAnne

"Morning, Joe, Sam, Bill, and Ed"

Hi Everyone,

I finally finished this month's Schnibble and I'm really excited to share it.  If you follow me on Instagram (patrioticquilter) you have seen the sneak peek!  The pattern for this month is Morning Joe. 

As you probably know by now, the wonderful Sherri and Sinta host the monthly Schnibbles parades on the first of every month, and the new pattern is announced.  It is seriously my favorite day of the month. 

This version of Morning Joe is named for the line of Pam Kitty Morning Fabric it is made from.  I always enjoy reading how Carrie names these quilts!  When I first saw it, I liked it, but I didn't have an "immediate" vision for this quilt.  Goodness knows, I love star quilts, though.  Later, on the first of November, when it was chosen as our next quilt, I looked at it again.  Earlier that day, I had been rearranging some of the piles in my sewing room and I came across this pattern which I love and keep meaning to make.

 (Whoops!  It came out sideways, sorry about that!)

 

I also had 2 charm packs of Primitive Gatherings' Snowmen Gatherings for which I've been trying to find a good pattern.

 

As I looked at the Morning Joe pattern, a light bulb went off in my brain and I realized that I could make it with the Snowman Gatherings and in the areas where the corner squares of the star blocks come together, I could put a snowman head!

 

I was on a roll.  The fabric line is in cream, lt. tan, dark tan, medium blue and navy blue.  What should I use for background?  I wanted to use some solid creamy white for the snowmen, so having a light background wouldn't work.  I went to my stash and pulled a few possibilities.

 

 

I loved this!  You may not be able to tell, but the little "trails" on the fabric are blue!  And the tan stars are exactly the same tan as in the fabric line.  The only problem?  When making HSTs with this and the tan fabrics, the tan stars of the brown fabric might "bleed" into the tan of the points.

 

 

Can you see the effect in the lower right corner?  That star point on the brown fabric looks like an odd growth off the tan triangle. 

Here, the whole edge looks funny. 

Next I found this fabric.

I loved it, too, but it had the same problem with those tan circles possibly causing the "bleeding" issue.

So I was stumped.  I didn't want to buy anything and I really didn't know what I wanted to use anyway.  I finally pulled out a dark red solid and decided that it would work. 

Disclaimer:  The above process actually happened.  I did not just go for the patriotic color scheme and jump right into red! 

I would be interested in hearing anyone else's suggestions for a background for these fabrics!

The next dilemma I had was in dealing with the choices in the charm pack.  The creamy whites were going to be a problem for me.  If I scattered them in randomly, I thought they would jump right out at you.  Also with the snowmen being the same color, I didn't want it all to look scattered.  I studied the pattern picture again and decided that I could use the creamy white charms in the center of the stars instead of background fabric, as Carrie did.

  I really liked that idea, however, it would mean that I wouldn't have enough charm squares to complete the border.  I contemplated just using a border cut from fabric (not the pieced, saw-tooth border)  as I had a few half -yard blue pieces, but I realized that this Schnibble is BIG and a half yard wouldn't be enough, so I finally ordered a third charm pack.

The third consideration I had was on construction.  If I was making the cover quilt "as is" I would make nine star blocks and then sew them together with the narrow sashing.  But since I wanted a large snowball block for the snowman head, I couldn't do that.  Instead, I constructed it in rows.

Once I had the rows, I could just sew them together.  Once the quilt top was finished, I went on to layering it and quilting.  I'm going to do another post about the quilting, as I "custom-quilted it" instead of my usual all-over meander.  Once quilted, I added the facial features, including the wool nose and the buttons and embroidery.

Here is the finished quilt!

I decided to keep part of the original name.  Instead of Morning Joe (as in coffee, etc.) my version is called, "Morning, Joe, Sam, Bill, and Ed," as if you are greeting the snowmen.

This is Joe:

 

 

This is Sam:

 

 

This is Bill:

And this is Ed:

I love how different they look!  I was so motivated to finish this because I wouldn't get the full effect until the faces were completed.

I'm really pleased with it.  Come back tomorrow for the details about the quilting.

Have a great day,
JoAnne

The Curse of the Clover Continues, or, A Friend, a Finish, and Flavia

Hi Everyone,

Have any of you ever seen a Western Melodrama?  In my hometown back when I was in high school, they had a drama society which would stage them each year.  They all have charming names, such as "Pelican Pete's Amazing Feat" and then a subtitle, such as I have used for this blog post.  Melodramas have a heroine and as she appears, the audience sighs, "awwww," and when the hero is on stage, everyone cheers.  The villain is always fun as he is booed and hissed at and the audience also throws peanuts at him.  The are great fun to watch!

I thought I would name this blog post as if it was a melodrama because, as you know, I've already had some melodrama with making my Clover Schnibble, and it continued.  However, the "heroine" (the quilt) was saved by the "hero" (my new friend) and the "villain" (the curse) was vanquished!

About my friend...  I first need to share a bit of background.  I love, love, love my Bernina and the way it sews and "feels." It is a 1080 and there is a bit of a cult following for the 1080/1090 by their owners.  Bonnie Hunter had one that she plum wore out a couple years ago and she was broken-hearted about it.  When it happened, I remember thinking "what am I going to do if I lose my baby?"  About that time, I decided I wanted a smaller machine to take to bees, etc. and also to have so I could still sew when my Bernina was in the shop.  I got a Janome Jem, and it is "okay" but doesn't feel like my Bernina.  It feels a bit stiff and slow in comparison.

Last summer, a shop down in Virginia Beach began carrying Jukis.  I have read about Jukis in the blog world, and so I wanted to check them out.  A few months ago, I sat down to one and fell in love!  The power!  The speed!  The way it sews!  I was truly smitten.  I wanted one!  But, I had a little chat with myself with the gist of it being that I already have 2 great machines and I really don't need another.  I managed to walk out of the shop without one.

Several weeks later, the topic came up at our Bee.  One of the other ladies mentioned that she had a Juki that she bought and never took out of the box and if I was interested, she would sell it to me.  Again I was tempted, but again I said no.  And then my Bernina went away for its adjustment (for 2 whole weeks!)  I caved.  I emailed her and she named the price and I accepted.  It was a very good deal:  I got a new machine for a "used" price.

I brought it home Wednesday evening, but was unable to try it until Friday morning.  I wanted to read the manual first and I had some busy days, but when I tried it on Friday, I was so thrilled with it!

It is a Juki TL-98Q

 

I spent Friday morning oiling it (the directions say to oil it everyday!) and then learning and practicing.  I will use this mostly for machine quilting.  I practiced free-motioning for a while until I was confident I could control the speed.  Then I picked up Clover so I could finish it.

 

Remember that I had begun to quilt it with my Bernina.  Plan A was to quilt it with a serpentine stitch along all the diagonal seams.  I did two complete ones and then looked at the back and it had pleated the backing!  So ripped all of that out.  Next I fell back on just doing a free motion meander over the whole thing, but that was when the Bernina started skipping stitches, so I ripped quite a bit of that out.  Now I was finally going to finish it on the Juki!  I put it under the machine and quilted away.  When I had gotten a nice chunk done, I stopped to rearrange it and smooth it out, as I periodically do while FMQing.  Only the left edge wouldn't straighten out!  What on earth?  I looked underneath and couldn't believe it!  I had quilted it in half!  Instead of quilting through 3 layers, I did 6!  Because the Juki is so powerful, and I still don't know the "feel" of it, I hadn't even noticed!  That is how powerful this machine is!  So I had to rip all of that quilting out.  I got going again and it was all going great and then I noticed that the backing along one side had gotten turned under and I quilted over it, so I needed more ripping.  I have never ripped out so much machine quilting ever!  I'm just about convinced that naming this project after a seam ripper has "borrowed trouble" so to speak, and created a curse!  Finally, though, I finished the quilting, and got the binding on and it is finished.  Whew!!

 



I had told myself that I couldn't begin on the new Schnibble until this one was complete.  When I saw the selected pattern for next time, I immediately got a great idea and I couldn't wait to get started on it, and indeed, once this was finished on Saturday I plunged right in on the new one. 

As many of you know, while quilting I like to listen to audiobooks.  I have a new favorite!  Do any of you "know" Flavia DeLuce?  She is the 11 year old protagonist in a series of books by Alan Bradley which begin with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.  

The books are set in England in 1950 and are mysteries.  The character development is wonderful.  My favorite part?  The writer knows a lot of facts and the reader/listener can learn many tidbits about music, literature, and chemistry (in particular--poisons!) in a fun way.  I'm nearly finished with the second one and plan to stop at the library today to see if the next one is "in."

I have a really busy week!  There is something going on every day.  I won't be posting tomorrow--it is election day and I'm working.  It will be an early morning!  I have to be there at 4:45 AM. 

Have a great day!
JoAnne

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