Design Wall Monday - November 4, 2019

Remember this quilt?  It has 1,300 broken dishes "blocks" in it, and each broken dishes "block" has four hsts, so eight small pieces of fabric there.   Each hst finishes at 1 inch, so the four hsts that compose a broken dishes "block" finish at 2 in. x 2 in.

Here's another picture from when I was starting to make it:

The binding has been completed on it this week.  This one is 100" x 100" and it took all week to hand sew down the binding.  Here is a picture of the old quilt top that I used as inspiration:

And here is my finished quilt hanging over the railing in my hallway, which shows only about 1/3 of it.  I will need to find a place to take a picture of the whole quilt.

A picture of it on my couch in the living room (where I tested it out today for a nap:

Here is a picture showing the Baptist Fan quilting pattern done by my long arm quilter, and the binding, which matches the background fabric:

What is on your design wall this week?  I loved looking at all the projects this last week.  You are making great progress.

When you link up and show a picture of your project, please provide a link back to this particular blog post somewhere within your blog post.  Thanks!

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Design Wall Monday - July 15, 2019

The broken dishes quilt is almost finished! It will finish at 100" by 100".  Here are pictures of the quilt on the log bed at the cabin:

 I have one more long seam left.....to attach the bottom 20" by 100" to the mother ship.

Last week I thought I had not counted well on how many broken dishes blocks that I needed.   So I made some more.  Then this week, I found the rest of the broken dishes blocks that were missing. 

So, I have laid out two doll quilts from the extra broken dishes blocks.  They will both finish at 14" by 18". 

The last seam on the big quilt and both doll quilts will be sewn together by next Monday, even with company coming to the cabin.  I love this "almost finished" stage.  I have my sewing machine set up in the log bedroom, in front of the windows looking out at the lake.  I feel blessed!

What is on your design wall this week?  I am so happy that you link up and show the rest of us what you are working on.  Please link back to this particular post from somewhere within your post this week.  Thanks.

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Design Wall Monday - July 1, 2019

Can you believe it is July?  I can't.  The weather has been great at the cabin, and even with no air conditioning, it is very pleasant with a constant breeze coming in from the water. 

This last week, I worked on the broken dishes quilt, and made some good progress.  I have all the broken dishes blocks completed, and 4/5 of the quilt is assembled.  The last 1/5 is divided into five equal parts, which I estimate will take me about a week each (factoring in all the company coming to the cabin this summer.). I'm happy with it so far, and am plugging away at it.

Here are some pictures taken yesterday.  Three of the five 20 inch by 100 inch strips are sewn together, and the fourth strip is now completed, but not attached.  I finished that strip last night.

(the last 8" by 20" part missing is now there, but it was too late when I finished to take a picture)

Next picture is taken while I was standing behind the quilt on the "design floor".

This last picture is taken from the stairs landing, up by the guest room, looking down on the quilt, which gives you a bird's eye view:

I'm looking forward to seeing what you are working on this Monday morning. I know you may be going away, or having company for the 4th of July holiday, so it might be a busy week, but please send me a picture anyway.  

As usual, please provide a link back to this particular post from somewhere within your blog post.  Thanks so much.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY 

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Design Wall Monday - June 24, 2019

Finally I was back at the sewing machine and have something to show you. I have been working away at completing the 100" x 100" broken dishes quilt.     Here at the cabin this week, I am taking long walks in the woods with Penny Lane, and sewing rows of blocks/columns/pieces of blocks.  Here are three pictures of this week's assembly line progress:

The first picture is of a few blocks laid out on an old metal school lunch tray.
Second picture is more newly made broken dishes blocks.  Third picture is a "design wall" of a rolled up rug, as the rubber backing helps hold the pieces in place until I sew them.  

I thought I had made all of the broken dishes blocks for this quilt, but now that I'm on the bottom 20" x 100" section, I found that I am short 28 red ones and 38 green ones.  But the good news is that I've made so many of them for this quilt, that making more is a breeze.  The end is near.

What are you going to post today?  I can't wait to look at all the pictures you post.  Thank you so much for participating in Design Wall Mondays.  All I ask is that you please link back to this particular post somewhere within your blog post. 

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Design Wall Monday - June 10, 2019

Quilting?  I haven't finished a thing!  I am busy cleaning house, and rearranging the basement storage area, so the UFOs are going to be the next spring cleaning project.  Or maybe not,  I never know what cleaning project will get my attention next week.  But tonight my friend Joan Brink is coming over and we will be working on our broken dishes quilts.   She has made a lot of progress on hers - and mine.......well, I haven't worked on it since I was at a retreat in April.  So it will be good for me to return to working on it tonight.

This week I've spent organizing cookbooks and recipes.  They were stored away in boxes in a cupboard since we moved from Virginia, but I really wanted to look at them on a shelf.  I love to leaf through a recipe book.  So I bought a used bookcase, for $15, and put it up on the counter top in the laundry room, which is just off the kitchen.  

I had lots of recipes of my Mom's that I hadn't sorted through since we cleaned out her home, and a friend had asked me for her Plum Pudding recipe, which I knew was in there somewhere.  So after I got the bookcase installed, I shelved all the cookbooks, and am now organizing the newspaper clippings (both mine and Mom's) and purging some of them.   The oldest clipping was from a newspaper in 1942.   There are some old clippings that talk about rationing during the war.

It is so nice to see recipes in Mom's handwriting.  She had beautiful penmanship, and taught me good penmanship as well.  Our handwriting is similar, but I can tell hers from mine.  Some of the old recipes have no indication of oven temperature and time.....I guess I can google the recipe and add that information.  Even with all the recipes available on the Internet, it is a treat to me to make something that my Mom has made many years ago, and also see her handwriting on the card.

It is funny that with both her clippings and mine, most recipes are for cookies, pies, and desserts.   She taught me what was important!

Here is the stage my organizing project is in right now:

The stack in the foreground is the last of the piles to sort and purge.  I smile when I walk into the room, because soon I will know exactly where to find any recipe or book in my collection.  Also, I sent out the Plum Pudding recipe in the snail mail today to my friend.  

Spring weather has been super here in Michigan, and there are lots of wildflowers in our subdivision.  Here is a picture of a Wild Lupine I saw yesterday while out walking Miss Penny Lane.  

Isn't it beautiful?  I shall have to see if I can save some seeds from it this fall, and plant them in my garden.  It is also called "Sundial".  Does anyone know why it's called Sundial?

Linkup today to Design Wall Monday is happening.  I am looking forward to seeing your posts.  Please provide a link back to this particular blog post somewhere within your blog post.  Thanks!  I so appreciate all of you.  

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Design Wall Monday - April 22, 2019

Some weeks there is so much happening that I have trouble picking a subject to stick with for the blog post.  April has been like that.  My birthday was celebrated April 16th, and through the wonder of the Internet, I heard from friends from far away and from many years past.  It was great!  76 years old now, it is hard to believe....time just flies by.

Remember the zillions of broken dishes blocks I was making?  They are now on the design wall, and are becoming a quilt top:

 I am about 40% finished, and surprisingly, it is going together rather well.  I think part of the success is that after quilting for so many years, my 1/4 inch seams are getting more consistent.  Yeah!

Another picture:

It fills my entire design wall, and will be king sized when complete.  Broken dishes blocks of four hsts are 2 inches square finished size.  I think it will be 100 x 100 inches.   Surprisingly, I'm not tired of assembly on this one.  It is varied enough that I have to pay attention to what I'm doing.

What is on your design wall this Monday?  Can't wait to see.  Please refer back to this particular blog post somewhere within your blog post.  Thanks!

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Design Wall Monday - March 11, 2019

Good Morning Design Wall bloggers!  We are on our way to Texas soon to visit our daughter and her family.  She lives in Corpus Christi and we are staying in a condo very near them (on Padre Island).   I am taking a sewing machine with me, but may not get much accomplished.  

We are driving, and taking Miss Penny Lane with us, for her first visit to the ocean.  She loves the lake at the cabin, but this will be salt water.  I will take a picture of her at the ocean for you.

I am still plugging away at the Broken Dishes blocks, and don't have much to show you.  Some asked the size of the blocks....each broken dishes block will measure 2 in. by 2 in. and there are 1,300 of them in the quilt.  The quilt is divided into 25 larger blocks with 52 Broken Dishes blocks in each one.  

Here are two pictures of the vintage quilt that some friends and I are making our own versions of:

All of those little lines are made up of small Broken Dishes blocks.  I am making it with green, red, and shirting fabrics, with a creamy background that has small dots.

We had 40 linkups last week!  Whoop! Whoop!  I really enjoy seeing your progress on your projects - so many talented quilters!  Thanks for linking up.  But I had some people tell me they had trouble linking up.  I asked for help from InLinkz help desk, and here is their reply:

Maria K maria@inlinkz.com via freshdesk.com	Mon, Mar 4, 10:07 AM
to me

Hi Judy,

I tried to add her link to your blog and works properly. Sometimes, this happens due to 

the blogs not being under https://

So, if you can, please let her know she can try loading your blog by adding the https:// in front:

​

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

​

If she still has trouble, please let her know she can contact me directly at maria@inlinkz.com

​

​We will work it out for her, don't worry a bit!

All the best, 

Maria Kappa,

InLinkz customer support

So, don't worry a bit!  We will get it worked out. (or I hope she will).  My computer knowledge can be contained in a small teacup.  Please link up with your blog post, and include this particular blog address somewhere within your blog.  You are all so good about doing this, and I thank you.  

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Design Wall Monday - February 18, 2019

Last week I looked at a UFO to see what needs to be done to finish it.  It's called "Buds in a Basket" and is almost finished.  I got stuck on the two outer borders.  One was a simple white border, and the last border was thirties fabrics.  I remember that I put it away because I attached the white border and it was wavy, so I took it off, and put the project in time out.  Looking at it now, I see that the white border was cut unevenly.  So instead of a 4 inch wide border, it is now trimmed to an even cut and will be slightly narrower.  I also will be more careful to measure the length of it and sew the exact same length border on each side.  That problem will be solved so, I looked at the final border instructions.  Ahhhh, I see why I stopped working on this quilt (besides the wavy white border)....the final border is random lengths of all of the fabrics used in the quilt.  Random?  I'm a precision accountant control freak....how do I do that?  Plunge in and do it, that's how.  This is not rocket science!

Here is a picture of part of the quilt, so you can see what it is:

The fabrics are all "thirties", so I took out my stash of thirties fabrics and cut a piece from each one......and tried to "randomly" sew pieces together for the outer border.  I confess, I actually divided them into four piles, red/pink, yellow, green, blue/purple.....and then tried to randomly sew one from each pile to the strip....not necessarily in any order.  Very hard for me to do.  Do you struggle with random? 

Here are the strips, and a few extra pieces:

I am also continuing with construction of small Broken Dishes blocks:

Last week I finished 50 of them.  By the time I'm finished with this quilt, I will probably be able to assemble them in my sleep!

What is on your design wall this week?  The small cheddar baskets quilt is still on mine, but the rows are half sewn together, and it should come down soon.  Especially since I have the Baskets of Buds quilt that I want to put up there.

I am so happy that you participate in Design Wall Mondays, and all I ask is that you refer back to this particular blog post somewhere within your blog post.  Thanks!

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Design Wall Monday - February 4, 2019

I'm still sewing rows of baskets together into the quilt top on the design wall.  I did cut the corner and side triangles for it, but it looks pretty much the way it looked last week, so no picture for you.

But here's a picture of Gideon, a sweet child of some friends of mine.  He is pictured on a quilt that I gave them as a wedding gift.  This quilt is so cheerful and spring-like, and Gideon is so cute on it, that you get this picture instead.  Much better.

Most of last week was spent on prepping half square triangles for the Broken Dishes quilt.  There are 1300 Broken Dishes blocks in the quilt, and I am almost at the half-way point.   Since I try to make 100 each week, this week I prepped the last 292 needed in the red and shirting colors.  The thought of having all of the red/shirting ones made was enticing.

Progress made:

1) cut Triangles-on-a-Roll papers into units that make 40 half square triangles
(which is 10 Broken Dishes blocks)  I cut 29 sheets.

2) Sandwich them with squares of one red fabric and one shirting fabric, making sure the fabrics were right sides together, with the paper pinned on top. x 29

3) Sew on the sewing lines while watching the snow come down.  This part is mindless, yet somehow very soothing to me.  27 sewn, 2 to go

4) Cut the units apart and tear the paper off.  This is as far as I got this last week, and I will be finishing them this week.  Still cutting units apart.

What I discovered that may be useful to you if you use these papers:

When you cut the units apart, keep all the two hsts units together and don't make the last cut down the middle to cut them apart.  Then tear the paper off the two.....and after that make the final cut down the middle between the sewn lines.

This way, you are only tearing off 3 pieces of paper.....instead of tearing off 4 smaller pieces of paper if you had made the final cut first.  The final cut can be made without the paper guidelines attached, as it is just a cut between two seam allowances of two hsts.  Hope this makes sense to you.  After making so many of these, I'm thinking about the easiest way to do every little part of it. 

I will be trying the "Magic Eight" method of making triangles on the final green and shirting ones, as I am out of the papers, and haven't been out and about to buy more.

We have been snowed in for most of the week, and it is finally melting away.  Here is a picture of my patio furniture taken last week, to give you an idea of how much snow we had.

What have you been sewing on this week?  I do enjoy your pictures and thank you to all who link up and join the fun.  Please provide a link back to this particular post within your blog post.  Thanks!







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Design Wall Monday - January 28, 2019

This past week was one where I jumped from project to project with lots of partial progress.  Some weeks are like that.  Here’s what I mean:

1)  The cheddar baskets are sewn into groups of three for sashing and the quilt top is on the design wall right now.  I found I had one basket left over.  Maybe it will go on the label on the back.  Assembly of the quilt top is next.

2)  Lori of Humble Quilts (Here) is having a string quilt linkup at the end of every month this year, so when I saw this project in my stash, I added a few blocks to the pile.  These are small blocks that measure 4 x 4 inches unfinished.  Crazy small, but a friend started me on them, and they are fun to make.....well, fun if a few at a time.  I'm making them on muslin, so there are no papers to pull off the back.

3)  My postage stamp Valentine larger quilt is away being machine quilted, and I made a small Valentine wall quilt to go with it.  This is 14 x 15 in.  I like to have a small one to match every large quilt I make.  I don't always do it, but that is the plan.  It wasn't very hard to make, as all the squares were cut and ready in my 1.5 inch cuts box of squares.  I just had to sort through and pick out red ones and shirting ones.

4)  I continued making small 1.5 inch half square triangles to sew into broken dishes blocks (4 per block).  Here are 400 of them which will make 100 blocks.  I am trying to make 100 blocks a week, and they go pretty quickly.  This batch will make the count of finished ones 600 out of 1300.  Almost half way!

See what I mean about working on several things this week?  Hope you were able to get some projects moving along too.  It's going to be a snowy Monday here in Grand Rapids (predicted up to 10 inches) so I will continue on with my sewing fun probably stay inside all day.

Please join in the Design Wall Monday photos fun.  I love to see your pictures, and read your blogs.  As always, please refer back to this particular post somewhere within your blog post.  

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Design Wall Monday - January 7, 2019

Good Morning!  This past week I've been making blocks for two different quilts that I plan to finish in 2019.

First, the Broken Dishes blocks are continuing to be made.  Here are 25 green and shirting ones that I made this week:

There are lots and lots of these blocks in the quilt, so I am trying to make 25 each week.

The second quilt that I'm working on is a small cheddar basket quilt.  The baskets are pieced and the handles are hand appliqued.  I need about 130 baskets for my quilt, and have about half of them made.  This week I cut the pieces for the remaining baskets, and worked on getting all the remaining handles appliqued.  Here is the progress on the second half of the baskets so far:

Cheddar basket parts cut out:

Four handles prepped and pinned overnight, which helps get the handles to curve nicely before I applique:

Picture of the handles finished so far:

I am going to finish them this week if I do at least four basket handles each day. Then assemble the baskets in a later week.  It feels like an assembly line, but with two projects going, I can switch off when my attention span needs a change of pace.

I have decided on a setting of plain off-white blocks, with the basket blocks as sashing.  I am thinking it will look much like this pattern from Laundry Basket Quilts, called "Aurora", with my cheddar baskets where she has blue stars:

What are you working on this week?  I am looking forward to seeing your design walls.  Linkups are so appreciated.  Just provide a link back to this particular blog post somewhere within your blog post.

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Design Wall Monday - December 17, 2018

How are you ladies coming along on Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt (those of you who are doing it)?  I have been saving the clues and following along.  It sure looks interesting, as always.

But my week has been spent making more hsts and broken dishes blocks.

The quilt I want to make will be king sized, for our bed, and this week, I looked at the "big picture" of how many hsts, how many broken dishes blocks, and background blocks I will need.  Again, here's a picture of the vintage quilt I am using as a guide:

This is the point where I sometimes put a project aside, and say "I can't think about that right now, if I do, I'll go crazy.  I'll think about that tomorrow."  in my best 'Miss Scarlett O'Hara' imitation.  But this time I haven't.....not yet. 

I made a spreadsheet to look at how many parts are in each block if I divided the 100 x 100 inch size into 25 equal "blocks".......Below i a drawing a friend, Rosemary Youngs, drew up in quilting software, of a 20 inch by 20 inch "block"

There are a couple of hsts flipped the wrong way in this picture, but it's not important at this stage.  Since I am not a quilt designer, and have an accounting background, my quilt "plans" are usually spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel.  My spreadsheet tells me I will need 1,300 broken dishes blocks.  That's a lot, but then I said, o.k......how many should I make a day?

Each of the twenty five blocks in my plan are 20 inches by 20 inches, and have 52 of the little broken dishes blocks in each.  I am dividing this project into twenty five parts, but I want my fabrics which are scrappy to be in each of the blocks.  Which is why I would prefer to make all the broken dishes blocks first, before I assemble a single 20 inch square block.  This way, I can make a batch of 25 broken dishes blocks - all the same - but only one or two of each batch  would be in each 20 inch square block.  

So the method would be dividing the broken dishes blocks (2 inches square) production into units of 50 at a time.  Then use only two of these 50 in a 20 inch square.  So there would be production of 50 broken dishes blocks 26 times.  

Yesterday, I experimented to see how many broken dishes blocks I could make in one day.   Starting in the afternoon, after church:  Using triangle papers, I sewed 200 half square triangles.  Then cut them apart, removed the papers, ironed them open, and trimmed them to 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches.  Next I sewed 100 of them into "twos" and "twos" and now have 50 of the "twos" and "twos" sewn together for 25 complete broken dishes blocks.  50 were in the "two" and "two" status when I went to bed.  The second 100 were pressed open but not trimmed to the correct size.  From the time spent and progress made so far, at bedtime, I determined I could sew 50 broken dishes blocks in two days, but not one.

I had made 150 broken dishes blocks before I started this "big picture" spreadsheet, and after another day at it to complete the 50 above, this would make 200 complete and 1,100 more needed.   At 50 per batch, that's 22 batches.....each two days long.  44 days of sewing hsts and sewing them into units of four..... yikes......but the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilters are making large quantities of the same unit over and over, so it is being done.  I do have all of the plain background squares cut (1,000 of those) so that part is done.  If anyone wants a copy of my spreadsheet, I can email it to you.  

But this morning, I'm going to look at Design Wall Monday linkups and see what you are making!  And after all, tomorrow is another day.  Design Wall Monday linkup rules are simple - just refer back to this particular blog post somewhere within your blog post.  Thanks!  I really enjoy seeing what you are doing and I thank you for joining in each week.  

Please note that InLinkz has new format, and I may not be doing it right, so I may have to fix the below link.....but I hope it works o.k.  I'm not a techie 

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Design Wall Monday - December 3, 2018

This week, I'm making small broken dishes four patches.  Here's a picture of two of them - front view and back view.  I like the little tiny four patch in the middle of the backside.  Too cute.  The block measures 2 x 2 inches finished.

I've made about 50 broken dishes four patches completely, and have several more partially made.  I have decided to make a quilt for our bed (king size) so it will require a ton of these blocks.  I'm not thinking about how many I have to make in total - I'm just enjoying the making for now.

Here's another picture of the old quilt that I am using as inspiration:

We have Penny back from training - she was away for a month of "boot camp".  She is like a new dog - obeys commands, sit, down, and best of all something called "place", where I tell her to stay in a certain place, and she does!  They worked with hubby and with me for about two hours to train us in what she has learned, and it was totally worth the separation to have her come back so well trained.  Now we, as her owners, must be consistent in keeping up their good work.  Wish me luck!

What is happening in your world today?  I am looking forward to seeing your design walls.  Thanks for participating.

As usual, if you would like to link up, please refer back to this particular post somewhere within your post, and that way people can link back to Design Wall Monday to link up with the next blog on the list.  Thanks!  Happy December!

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