The Bluenose II Pixel Quilt - Finally Finished

Dear Cindy,

      

       Now that your quilt is finally finished and on its way to you, I decided to tell you its full story.

       Since you love the ocean and your favourite colour was blue (that was before you told me that you now prefer the jewel tones), I decided to make you a quilt with a nautical theme, and I started collecting blue fabrics (which I didn't end up using since they were print and I needed solids for this quilt). There are a number of quilt block names that are related to the ocean, and I figured I would likely pick one of these. But I was letting it percolate in my mind for awhile.
       Meanwhile I enrolled in an online quilting class called Pictures to Pixel Quilts. The quilt for the class was a picture of the instructor's eye. Boring. So I started looking around for ideas. In Microsoft Paint, I pixelated a hydrangea photo that I took at Muttart Conservatory. But I wasn't sure if I wanted to try making a quilt out of that either. It was a pretty tedious job trying to calculate the colours...
       One day I was perusing the latest issue of Canadian History while I was home on my lunch break. It had an article on the Bluenose II, and I had a sudden lightbulb moment. That was it - I would do a pixel quilt of the Bluenose II. Perfect! You love the ocean, you love Canadian history and you live in Nova Scotia - what could be better? I had no idea what I had gotten myself into.
       In the pixel quilt course, we were introduced to Pic 2 Pat, an online website that converts photos into cross-stitch patterns. Then I had to find a decent picture of the Bluenose II, and upload it to the sight. I had to play around quite a bit to get it the right size. Initially, I was going to make the whole quilt a pixelated picture. But I decided that was a little overwhelming and settled on just the bed top. More or less. It was challenging to get the size right and I settled for what would approximately cover the bed top. I also had to determine the number of squares and colours. The more squares and colours, the more detail in the picture, but also the more challenging. And I ended up settling on 1-inch squares and 77 colours.
       The pattern gave the colour requirements in DMC floss. But I was using fabric not floss. So, somehow I had to convert it. I bought a DMC floss colour card and a Kona cotton colour card. Kona is one of the best known lines of solid-coloured fabric in the quilting world.

DMC Floss Colour Card

Unfortunately, the floss card only had pictures of the floss, not actual samples.

Kona Cotton Colour Card

And the Kona card only had 1-inch samples of fabric. That made it very difficult to compare colours. So my buddy, Phil, who works in a sign shop and knows his colours, and I went to Michael's to compare actual floss with the Kona Colour Card. And I duly noted down our selections. I had also picked up some solid blue fabrics in Ontario at the Aylmer Sales Arena, so they too had to fit into the colour scheme. And Michael's didn't have all of the floss colours either, so I had to do my best with comparing the two colour cards. Unfortunately, there are more floss colours than there are fabric colours, so some fabrics had to stand in for more than one floss colour. I ended up with 66 colours, 41 of which were shades of blue. Did you know that there were even that many different shades of blue? Wow!
I have to pause for a minute and give credit to my pal, Phil. How many men do you know that would have that kind of patience? So, you owe some thanks to him for his part in the colour selection.
But the fun had just begun, because I still had to calculate fabric requirements. The pixel part of this quilt is 63" x 72". That means 4,536 one-inch squares. So, I had to count symbols on the pattern to determine how many I needed of each symbol, which would translate into each colour of fabric. Now, of course, on the pattern, these squares were smaller than 1/8". So, I had lots of fun trying to count those miniscule symbols, some of which look very much alike. Then I had to calculate how many 1-1/2" squares (with seam allowance) I could fit into different measurements of fabric. I actually created a spreadsheet in Excel, indicating the DMC colour number and name with the corresponding Kona colour number and name, and the number of squares I would need of each colour. 

Pattern and Excel Spreadsheet

In addition to the fabric I bought in Ontario, I ended up ordering from three different vendors, because no one vendor had all of the colours I needed. I ordered some charm squares (5" squares of fabric, which would yield nine 1-1/2" squares), fat quarters (an 18x22" piece of fabric), half yards and yardage. And when they all finally arrived, I labelled each piece of fabric with the corresponding DMC floss number and arranged them all in numerical order. However, as I progressed through the quilt, it was very difficult to keep them that way, especially the ones that represented more than one floss colour number.
I also had to decide what to do for borders and backing. I found a boat fabric on eBay, but miscalculated somehow and didn't order enough.

Fortunately, it was still available and I ordered the rest of what I needed.
       For the borders, I decided to alternate an underwater fabric with seashells on the sand fabric,

and use a different nautical themed block for each corner. In those, I hoped to add the jewel tones that you like, and bring out some of the colours from the border fabrics.

Lighthouse Tower

Storm At Sea

Sailor's Delight

Ocean Waves

But back to the pixel part of the quilt - rather than do the large areas of the same colour in individual 1" squares, I chose to do it as larger pieces of fabric. Otherwise, you'd probably still be waiting. I realized, however, that when sewing rectangles together that went every which way, the seams didn't always line up and I had to chose to do only one row of squares at a time - not 2 rows by 4 columns or 3 rows by 3 columns. I put the main fabrics I was working with into bins on my cutting table and labelled each bin with the floss number and symbol. I chose to work in mostly 10" blocks. Once I got to the more challenging parts, I decided to draw a couple of 10x10 grids on my design wall (which is just a vinyl flannel-backed tablecloth with the flannel side out) to keep track of which square of fabric went where. I also discovered that I couldn't work on this quilt if I was feeling tired. I had to be mentally alert to keep the colours in order.

The quilt was about 3/4 finished when I decided that I really needed to get the sewing room renovations done. My design wall with the current squares I was working with came down off the wall, and everything was put away wherever I could find room. That ended up being quite a long quilting hiatus. It's very challenging trying to do renovations while working full time, and I finally hired help. Meanwhile Sophia and Damian moved in, and, since Grandma is Damian's favourite playmate, I still didn't get back to your quilt right away. To be perfectly frank, it was tedious and hard to keep motivated.

Last fall, I determined to get back at it and finally finished the quilt top. All that was left was the quilting and binding. Unfortunately, I had that aborted attempt at Central Sewing Machines, where it seemed everything went wrong. My time is limited for when I can get into the Longarm studio to quilt, but over the Christmas/New Year's season, my favourite - but most expensive - quilting studio had a half price sale and I booked 6 hours on the first available date that I had off and they had time available. That was April 7th. And I switched threads. I didn't think the Aurilux thread (on the right) was blue enough - it's more teal/aqua than blue, so I bought a variegated Artistry thread (on the left).

I figured 6 hours would be ample for this quilt, and hoped I might even get a chance to do another, smaller quilt. Ha! Fortunately no one else was booked for the Longarm machine after me as I used a fairly dense quilting pattern (Wave Upon Wave)

and it ended up taking me 7 hours. And my feet were killing me afterwards. But I was so happy to finally have it done. All that was left was the trimming and the binding, which was also lots of "fun" maneuvering all of that bulky, heavy quilt.

And, as I said, it is heavy - the parcel weighed over 3.3 kg. You'll also find it stiff initially, until it's been washed at least once.

Up close, a pixel quilt looks just like a random bunch of squares of different coloured fabric. The farther away you get, the better it looks. That's why I took pictures in the garage (it was snowing/raining so I couldn't take them outside).

Enjoy your quilt. I will likely never make another like it.

With lots of love,

Laura

By the way, I have since found a website that makes actual pixel quilt patterns, and calculates the yardage and colours for you. Oh, how much time I could have saved if YouPatch had been available when I first started designing this quilt!

Other posts about the Bluenose II Pixel Quilt:

Random Quilting Inspiration

Show & Tell: Colour Cards and Pixel Quilts

A Really Late Show & Tell - Comparing DMC Floss to Kona Cotton Colours

Show & Tell: The Week's Progress

Work in Progress: Bluenose II Pixel Quilt - Part 1

Work in Progress: The Bluenose II Pixel Quilt, Part 2

Work in Progress: The Bluenose II Pixel Quilt - Part 3

Work in Progress: The Bluenose II Pixel Quilt - Part 4

A Different Perspective

Work in Progress: The Bluenose II Pixel Quilt - Part 5

Work in Progress: The Bluenose II Pixel Quilt - Part 6

Work in Progress: The Bluenose II Pixel Quilt - Part 7

Show & Tell: Ocean Waves

A Storm at Sea is not a Sailor's Delight

A Sailor's Delight in a Storm at Sea is a Lighthouse Tower

Show & Tell: Jumping Ahead to Borders for the Pixel Quilt

Another Row Finished on the Bluenose II

Thread

Back to Work on the Bluenose II

Pixel Quilt Update and More

So Disappointing

So Disappointing

I was out the door a little past 7:30 this morning, on my way to Central Sewing Machines to finally quilt the Bluenose II pixel quilt. About 15 minutes from the store, my warning light came on with the message to add air to my left front tire. A little concerning since I had just been at the Kal Tire a couple of days ago to have them check the air in my tires. Did I have a leaky tire? What to do about it? I decided not to stop, but watched for a gas station so that I could stop on my way home to inflate the tire. However, I arrived at the store about 15 minutes before it opened, so I went back to the Petro Can I had spotted. I chose to overfill the tire in case it was leaking and hopefully it would stay inflated until I got back home. Unfortunately, the gas station was right on a very busy intersection, and there was no way I could go back the way I came because of medians and left turns, so I glanced at the map and left the gas station, turning right. And then another right, which took me through a light industrial section and I ended up making a wrong turn and got a tour of the neighbourhood that I hadn't planned on. Rechecked map and got myself going in the right direction and ended up back at Central Sewing 15-20 minutes after opening. I had wanted to get an early start on the quilt, so this was rather frustrating to me. 
According to the Bible, the Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday night. And at this time of year, that's pretty early, around 4:30. The hours of the Sabbath are sacred, so I don't quilt or do business on the Sabbath. So I wanted to make sure I got an early start on the quilt and finish up in plenty of time for the Sabbath to begin. As a matter of fact, on my way in, I was praying that the Lord would not allow the devil to keep me from finishing the quilt before the Sabbath began. 
I don't use a long arm quilting machine often enough to feel comfortable loading the quilt myself, so I asked for assistance. Unfortunately, the person who was assisting me was not a quilter and had just taken the training herself. She changed the needle for me and wound my first bobbin. I scratched my head over some of the things she did, and it seemed to be taking forever to get it loaded. Finally we had backing, batting and quilt top loaded on the frame. Then she left me, while I got the pantograph set up and then I was ready to begin, about 10:30. Not a good thing. This is a LARGE double quilt - actually large enough to fit a queen, and I was going to be quilting a rather dense pattern, so I was rather concerned about my time constraints. And, as it turned out, I was not ready to begin. When I started trying to baste the layers together, the machine wasn't cooperating at all. I couldn't pull the bobbin thread up, the needle got stuck and the thread broke. I went to get help and eventually we had to get someone who works in the store that actually owns one of these machines (HQ Avante), so she fiddled with it a bit and thought it might be my thread (Aurilux). She switched threads and still had problems. And then she finally noticed that the needle was in backwards! Switched the needle around and it seemed to be working fine, so we switched back to my thread and I tried again. Started to baste across the top but it kept skipping stitches. <sigh> By this time, it was 11:05. They had offered to allow me to leave the quilt on the machine if I didn't finish and come back Monday night when they're open until 8:30. But I had had more than enough frustration for one morning and decided to just take the quilt off the frame and leave. I really didn't want to drive back again on Monday night in the dark. I'm not fond of driving in the dark. 
So once again the pixel quilt is not finished. And I'm not sure how I'm going to get it finished. My scheduled days off always fall on a Friday, but I don't think I will try again to do a quilt on a Friday at this time of year. It's just cutting it to close to try and get it done before the Sabbath. And I have no more vacation to use until April, unless I borrow from next year's vacation. I've even used up my floating stat. I wish there was a longarm studio that was open on Sundays and then there wouldn't be a problem. Ultimately, I really need to get my own longarm machine. I just have to figure out how I'm going to afford it. And I need to de-clutter and finish the rest of the basement. In the meantime, I have found the Getting Started: HQ Avante videos on Youtube. Before I go next time, I intend to review them thoroughly and then I should be able to change the needle, wind the bobbin and load the quilt all on my own. One thing I will say about Central Sewing Machines, they actually clock you in on a time clock when you rent their machines, but you don't clock in until you're ready to sew. They don't charge you for the loading and set-up time. The other studio I rented at charged twice as much per hour and did include the loading/set-up time. Ouch! I could have saved a lot of money if I'd been renting at Central all along. 
All was not lost on my trip to the city, however. I was able to stop at McGavin's Bread Basket and pick up some Silver Hills bread. Silver Hills is my favourite bread. Made of all whole grains, mostly organic, it has body, it has texture, it has substance. Not like that doughy stuff you usually find at the grocery store, even the whole grain stuff. Silver Hills, however, does not usually come cheap. $4-5/loaf, or more, if you can find it. However, the stuff they sell at McGavin's Bread Basket is closer to the best before date, so they sell it cheaper. As in 10 loaves for $14.99 (or something like that), but you have to buy 10 loaves. No problem, I have a freezer. So I was really happy to make that stop as I was running low on bread. 
Next stop was Payless Shoes, where I was actually able to find a pair of shoes that fit me and were comfortable (till I wore them for the rest of the day, but that's me and my bad feet). Stopped at a mall for lunch and then hit the Fabricland and purchased some fabric to console myself after today's disappointment. 

First I found this panel. It has the Beautitudes (Matthew 5:1-12), Amazing Grace, the Prayer of Serenity, the Prayer of St. Francis and some mini panels that have Christian symbols on them. Not sure what I'll use the mini panels for. Some of them look like they're supposed to be bookmarks. I'm sure I'll figure out something. 

Next I found this train fabric. I took what was left on the bolt, less than two metres, I think.

While I was waiting in line at the cutting table, I spied this Stonehenge fabric. I'm not a big brown/beige fan, but my basement bathroom is beige and black and I thought this might make a nice wallhanging in there. Again, I bought what was left on the bolt.

All of the fabric I purchased was on sale, which makes me even happier. 

On my way back into town, I stopped at Walmart to pick up tahini and see if they had miso or umeboshi paste. Nada. Not even the tahini, at least not that I could find. 

And no more warning lights for my tire. It remained (over)inflated. 

The Sabbath has begun now, so I wish you all a happy Sabbath.

Back to Work on the Bluenose II

I had been laboriously working on the Bluenose II pixel quilt since some time in 2014. It was supposed to have been my sister Cindy's 50th birthday gift, and she's now 52. But this is a very tedious technique, involving many 1" squares of fabric, all of which have to be sewn with the correct colour in exactly the right place. I chose to work in mostly 10" blocks, with the exception of the topmost row, which is 13" deep and the rightmost column, which is 12" wide. To aid in working on the blocks, I drew a grid of 1-1/2" squares (unfinished size of the squares) 20 wide and 10 deep on one of my design walls, to accomodate working on two blocks at once. When I commenced the renovations on my basement sewing studio, all of my sewing/crafting supplies had to find a temporary home elsewhere, including the design wall with 2 blocks in progress. Trying to find a place for everything was not easy, and this design wall ended up being tossed on the bed in the basement bedroom with various and sundry other items. Not exactly the best way to store it. As a result, some of the squares fell off the design wall. So, when I finally got around to working on this project again, I not only had to find as many missing squares as I could, but I also had to make sure everything was where it belonged. That took me a number of hours, plus adding the remaining squares to complete the blocks.

Sewing the squares together is about as tedious as assembling them on the design wall in the first place as I still had to ensure that each square remained in the correct place. I finally managed to finish these two blocks.

It had been so long since I had worked on this quilt top that I didn't realize these were the last two blocks I needed to complete for row 5. I had blocks 1 through 4 and 7 completed. I'm not sure why I had skipped blocks 5 & 6 and completed block 7, but these two blocks were now done, I joined the whole row together and then added it to the bottom of the quilt. You can see the results in the top picture, and below.

As you can see by comparing the top picture with the one immediately above, pixel quilts look best from a distance. The closer you get, the more it looks just like a random bunch of different coloured squares of fabric.

It appears the boat is finished, I just have to add more water: one more row of 10" blocks. These last two rows are the most tedious part of the quilt as there is much greater colour change amongst the squares - not too many solid blocks of colour like in the sky and the sails. So it will likely still take me awhile, especially since this quilt requires full focus. I don't like to work on it if I'm tired or preoccupied. 

You can find my previous posts on this quilt here:

Random Quilting Inspiration

Show & Tell: Colour Cards & Pixel Quilts

A Really Late Show & Tell - Comparing DMC Floss to Kona Cotton

Show & Tell: The Week's Progress

Scrappy Shine Quilt

Work in Progress: Bluenose II Pixel Quilt - Part 1

Work in Progress: The Bluenose II Pixel Quilt - Part 2

Work in Progress: The Bluenose II Pixel Quilt - Part 3

Work in Progress: The Bluenose II Pixel Quilt - Part 4

A Different Perspective

Work in Progress: The Bluenose II Pixel Quilt - Part 5

Work in Progress: The Bluenose II Pixel Quilt - Part 6

Work in Progress: The Bluenose II Pixel Quilt - Part 7

Show & Tell: Ocean Waves

Show & Tell: Lucky Clover Block

A Sailor's Delight in a Storm at Sea is a Lighthouse Tower

Another Row Finished on the Bluenose II

Thread

Creative Expressions 2014: My Crafting Year in Review

Another Row Finished on the Bluenose II

I had to make a very tough personal decision, one that was very painful. But once made, I suddenly felt like sitting down and working on the pixel quilt. I'd been neglecting it for weeks, but somehow, once I had made that decision, I had the peace I needed to be able to focus on this challenging quilt. I only had 3 more blocks to complete in order to finish Row 4. One of those blocks was all cut out, but not assembled. So I assembled it and then completed the last two blocks and attached the row to the rest of the quilt. That was done yesterday. Here's the result:

The sails are nearly done now. Today I completed the first block for Row 5. Here it is:

At the top, you can see the bottom corner of one of the sails on the right and the sky gradually blending into the darker blues of the ocean on the bottom. I decided to do these more challenging blocks row by row, rather than big blocks of colour and cutting out the whole block before assembling. First of all, there aren't too many big blocks of colour in these blocks, and secondly, when there are so many different colours in one block, it's easier to keep track of them by just doing one row at a time. Thirteen more blocks to go. My next scheduled day off is July 7th, so I'm hoping to be able to book time on the long arm quilter then to get this quilt finished. I don't think I'll try to do more than one block in a day. By the time I finished this block, I was really ready to rap it up. I don't want to work so long on it that I get bored and frustrated and end up neglecting it for weeks again. 
In the middle of the day today (between periods of working on this quilt block), I went to the dentist. It's been over two years since I've been to the dentist. It's not that I have dentist phobia. It's more that I just kept forgetting to make the appointment. Or I'd remember in the dead of winter. My dentist is 60 km away (about 37 miles): not a distance I relish in a severe Alberta winter. So I finally made it there today, and hopefully I'll remember to make an appointment sooner next time. I spent over an hour with the hygienist. So much scale (or whatever you call it) had built up on my teeth that she had to do a lot of scraping. So now my jaw (from keeping my mouth open so long) and my gums are really, really tender. I didn't even feel like chewing any supper, so I made a smoothie. And shared it with my grandson, of course. 
So now it's your turn to share your link and show us what progress you've made.

Show & Tell Guidelines

1. Link up any recent post that features your current creative project. And it can be a work in progress as well.
2. Please remember to link to your actual blog post, not your main blog page, so others don't have to search.
3. Somewhere in your blog post, you must link back to my blog or put the 'Show & Tell' button in your sidebar. 
4. Please don't just add your link and go. Check out a few of the other links and comment. The best idea is to check out the 3 or 4 links just previous to yours. That way every link will get visited. And maybe you'll pick up a few new followers along the way.
5. You don't have to follow me to post your link on my blog, but that would be much appreciated.
6. Have fun. This is a party after all.

<a href=’http://catscrossing-laura.blogspot.ca/p/show-tell.html'> <img src=' http://i1331.photobucket.com/albums/w583/september59/CatrsquosCrossing_zps2b7e332e.png ' style='border:none;'> </a>

An InLinkz Link-up

Show & Tell: Jumping Ahead to Borders for the Pixel Quilt

I have to apologize for not getting Show & Tell posted yesterday. My ex-husband is home and I've been "hostessing" for the past couple of days. He's a truck driver and when he's home, he generally spends most of his time at my place visiting our daughter and grandson, who live with me. As I've mentioned before I have an amicable relationship with him, so I'm fine with that. Except that I feel obligated to do the hostess thing, cooking and entertaining, and therefore don't get much quilting or blogging done. To me, it would be rude to disappear to the basement and quilt while he was here. So that's my excuse. 
I honestly may have to take a hiatus from quilting and blogging anyway. I am hoping to move back to Ontario, my home province. I have been thinking about it for nearly a year. Last fall when I visited Ontario, I didn't want to come back to Alberta at the end of my vacation. And the desire hasn't left me. I told my church family that, like the song "I left my heart in San Francisco," I left my heart in Ontario. I am in the process of reinstating my registration as a nurse in Ontario and have applied for numerous jobs already. If and when I finally get a job there, I want to be able to put my house on the market immediately. That means I've got lots of cleaning, de-cluttering, organizing, painting, etc. to get done so that my house is in saleable condition. In addition, I'm having to use quilting time to job hunt. Plus I've still got my income tax return to complete and file. That requires going through a lot of paperwork because I claim part of my vehicle expenses since I use my truck for work. I've got to round up all of my gas, maintenance and car wash receipts for that. I really need to discipline myself to keep those things better organized. You know how everyone loses things in a divorce. Well, I seem to have lost my personal organization skills. I used to be so super organized about that stuff and now... <sigh>
So, I've really got too much to do. I wanted to get the pixel quilt done and mailed, but I'm not sure if I should drag it out any longer. 
I did manage to get one more block for the pixel part done this past week, but that's all. I've lost my enthusiasm for this project.  I'd like to at least get row 4 done before I pack it away. Since I'd finished the four corner blocks for the border, I decided to work on the border. I got the left side done, but it's too long to show in one picture without having the distance to shoot the picture from. So here's the top part:

 And here's the bottom part:

Even with these two pictures, it doesn't show the whole border. In addition to the top and bottom row with the corner blocks, there are 7 rows in between. 
I love both of these fabrics that I'm using in the border: tropical fish and seashells. Those are 9 inch squares, so I'll have an 18 inch border on each side of the pixel part. My sister only has a double bed, so I didn't want the 18 inches on the top and bottom or that would have made the quilt too wide for her bed. So, I opted for a 12 inch border. In order to be a little more consistent with the sides, I decided to continue with the 9 inch blocks, adding 3x9 inch blocks on the outer edge, but I haven't done those sections yet. It looks kind of funky to me right now. I'm not sure if I like the corner blocks in with the other fabric. I guess we'll see what the overall effect is when the quilt top is done. I don't intend to change my plan now...

<a href=’http://catscrossing-laura.blogspot.ca/p/show-tell.html'> <img src=' http://i1331.photobucket.com/albums/w583
/september59/CatrsquosCrossing_zps2b7e332e.png ' style='border:none;'> </a>

Show & Tell Guidelines 
1. Link up any recent post that features your current creative project. And it can be a work in progress as well. 
2. Please remember to link to your actual blog post, not your main blog page, so others don't have to search. 3. Somewhere in your blog post, you must link back to my blog or put the 'Show & Tell' button in your sidebar. 
 4. Please don't just add your link and go. Check out a few of the other links and comment. The best idea is to check out the 3 or 4 links just previous to yours. That way every link will get visited. And maybe you'll pick up a few new followers along the way. 
5. You don't have to follow me to post your link on my blog, but that would be much appreciated. 
6. Have fun. This is a party after all.

An InLinkz Link-up

A Sailor's Delight in a Storm at Sea is a Lighthouse Tower

After I got over my "baditude" about the Lighthouse Tower block, I decided to assemble it anyway.

Lighthouse Tower Block

It's far from perfect, and I know it would have been much better if I'd used the templates, but I don't like to allow anything to defeat me. And I managed all 16 of those Y-seams, though I've done better with them before. So it's finished. And I will probably include it in the quilt. Remember the Amish deliberately add at least one error to their quilts to remind them that only God is perfect. Well, there are plenty of reminders in my quilts!. 
Here are the three blocks that the title of this post is based on:

Sailor's Delight  -  Storm at Sea  -  Lighthouse Tower

And here they all are, the four nautically-themed corner blocks for the Bluenose II Pixel Quilt:

Sailors Delight - Storm at Sea
Lighthouse Tower - Ocean Waves

Now I need to get back to work on the pixel part...

A Storm at Sea is not a Sailor's Delight

I finished a couple more blocks for the corners of the pixel quilt. 

I thought I was going to get all three of the remaining blocks done. Do you see what colour I am typing in? Red, as in "I was so angry I saw red." Well, maybe not angry, just frustrated. But right now I'm not sure where the line is between angry and frustrated. I wanted 4 quilting blocks with a nautical theme for the corners of the pixel quilt. I had already chosen Ocean Waves, Storm at Sea and Sailor's Delight, but wasn't sure about the fourth one. Then I found Lighthouse Tower on Jinny Beyer's website. Jinny does some incredibly complex quilt blocks, but I guess I just didn't look carefully enough. I think it might even beat Lena's Choice for complexity. No, on second thought, I do believe Lena's Choice was even more difficult. I think it's just that with everything going on in my life right now, I really wasn't patient enough for a block this complex. I got this far:

But when I started assembling it, it just wasn't going together well at all. Sixteen Y-seams. Yes, that's right - 16. And I didn't want to do them. Add to that the fact that I hadn't bothered using the templates provided, except for one. I'd rather just measure and cut than fiddle with templates. And that had worked fine for the Storm at Sea block. But the problem was, most of the measurements for the Lighthouse Tower were rather bizarre, like 'not quite' 8-1/4", or 'slightly over' 1-7/8". Really hard to be precise unless you use templates. And precision is very important with a block like this. I was so frustrated that I fed the template printout sheet through the shredder. Well, now that I've had a chance to cool down, I realize that it really was my fault: first for choosing such a complicated block to begin with and second, for not being more careful with cutout and assembly. Maybe I shall try it again some day, but not now. I don't need the extra stress. Meanwhile I've decided to try the Time & Tide quilt block from 365 Fun-To-Stitch Quilt Blocks. And this time I intend to use the templates!
Time & Tide is similar to Cynthia Ann Dancing, a block I drafted from Jinny Beyer's book, The Quilter's Album of Blocks and Borders, and then created templates for it. It only required 2 templates and that was great. And it turned out much better than Lighthouse Tower! LOL!
I also used 365 Fun-to-Stitch Quilt Blocks as my guide for the Storm at Sea block.

Like Lighthouse Tower, I only used one template - the one for the diamond because it was too difficult to get the right size and shape without one. I have so many funky-angled quilting rulers that I didn't figure I needed templates. I even have one with the correct angle for the end points on the diamonds, but trying to get a diamond shape from a triangular ruler was more than I wanted to think about. Storm at Sea was my consolation prize because at least I'm happy with how it turned out. 
I'm not so happy with Sailor's Delight:

Sailor's Delight is a block from Craftsy's Quick Strip Paper Piecing Class. I am happy with how it looks, but, because so much of it is bias cut, I ended up with a wavy block. And I don't mean wavy as in ocean waves, but wavy fabric. And that in spite of the fact that I used spray starch on each section before I assembled the block. 

Sailor's Delight Sections after Starching

Maybe I should have starched the fabric strips before doing the paper piecing. Hopefully I can quilt the ripples out. In spite of the waviness, I'm quite happy with this class so far. In addition to this block, I also completed the Dreamweaver Quilt for my daughter.
Well, it's time to head for bed. No more quilting for tonight.

An InLinkz Link-up

Show & Tell: Ocean Waves

Ugh! I hate the time change. And the older I get, it seems the longer it takes me to adjust to it. It doesn't help that Damian's been fussy and not sleeping well lately. I don't have a shade on the window in his room, but have added that to my "to do" list. We hung a blanket in his window and that seems to have helped him settle down at night, now that it's lighter later. As for the cough/cold/sinus thing that's keeping him awake at nights, Sophia and I are wondering about a possible allergy: dairy milk or cats. Well, the dairy milk thing will be much easier to solve than the cat issue because I'm not getting rid of the cats. It might help if I brushed them, but since Damian and Sophia moved in, I put the cat brushes somewhere and I cannot recall where. 
So between the time change and Damian's restlessness, I've been very tired. Too tired to feel like contending with the one inch squares in the pixel quilt. My Kona nautical fabric arrived, so I made one of the blocks I intend to use for the corners on the Bluenose II pixel quilt. For the border, I selected two ocean-related fabrics, but wanted something different for the corners. I decided to do four traditional type quilting blocks with a nautical theme and use Kona solid in the colour "nautical" as the background. For the piecing, I chose 4 different prints from my stash that bring out some of the colours from the border fabrics. Since the pixel part of this quilt top is primarily monochromatic in various shades of blue, I wanted to add some more colour. 
Today's block is Ocean Waves. You can find different variations of this block both online and in books. You can complete it using half-square triangles, templates or paper piecing. I opted to use paper piecing, as found here: http://www.quilterscache.com/O/OceanWavesBlock.html In printing out the templates, even when I clicked on Actual Size, I found the templates still slightly small. Since I have a tendency to end up with my blocks smaller than intended, I definitely did not want to start out with the templates too small. Fortunately, my printer is a multi-function centre and I copied them at 104%. Just that 4% made the difference. 
Once I had them the correct size and all cut out, I arranged them in the right order. 

Once I had them laid out, I colour-coded the sections with markers so that I could keep track of which fabric went where while sewing. I used the strip piecing method as taught in Craftsy's Quick Strip Paper Piecing Class.

I also used a dry iron and freezer paper on the ironing board. This protects from ink smudges from the copy paper. Once I'd removed all of the paper, I pressed again using spray starch. This will help retain the shape, since many cuts are on the bias.

Ocean Waves: all sections finished

With the sections all finished, I then sewed them together in three pieces.

Finally, all three pieces were joined to make the completed block. 

Traditionally, this block is done in blues and white, but I have plenty of blues in the pixel section of this quilt top. And, as I said, I wanted to add some more colour. 
By the way, I've been using 60 weight in my bobbin and it's not stitching tight enough. It caused some problems when I was pulling the paper off. Anyone else experience anything similar?
Damian's been pretty clingy to his mother and me since he's not feeling well, so I'm not sure how much more I'll get done...
How has your week gone? What have you gotten done? Share your link here.

<a href=’http://catscrossing-laura.blogspot.ca/p/show-tell.html'> <img src=' http://i1331.photobucket.com/albums/w583/september59/CatrsquosCrossing_zps2b7e332e.png ' style='border:none;'> </a>

Guidelines for Show & Tell 

1. Link up any recent post that features your current creative project. And it can be a work in progress as well. 
2. Please remember to link to your actual blog post, not your main blog page, so others don't have to search. 
3. Somewhere in your blog post, you must link back to my blog or put the 'Show & Tell' button in your sidebar. 
4.  Please don't just add your link and go. Check out a few of the other links and comment. The best idea is to check out the 3 or 4 links just previous to yours. That way every link will get visited. And maybe you'll pick up a few new followers along the way. 
5. You don't have to follow me to post your link on my blog, but that would be much appreciated. 
6. Have fun. This is a party after all.

An InLinkz Link-up

Work in Progress: The Bluenose II Pixel Quilt - Part 7

First, let me say that I am writing this on Saturday night as I plan on going into Edmonton on Sunday. Fabricland is having a sale and I need to get the batting for the pixel quilt. Not that I'm anywhere near ready for the batting yet. Oh no, as a matter of fact, I made scarcely any progress on the quilt at all. I barely finished one block, and a simple block it was at that, with large areas of the same colour. 

One important thing I did accomplish, however, was to draw a 1-1/2 inch grid on one of my design sheets. 

I should have done this right from the start because I believe it will make it ever so much easier to keep track of all the little squares and where they go in the block, like this:

I drew enough grid for two blocks, as I'm sometimes working on two at a time - even more challenging to keep track of!
So, if you ever plan on doing a pixel quilt, I highly recommend that you create a grid to work on. I predict that I am really going to need this for rows 5 & 6, the water part of the picture. No large areas of the same colour there...
Did you accomplish much this week or did you have a lazier week like me? Share your link and let us know.

Guidelines for Show & Tell

1. Link up any recent post that features your current creative project. And it can be a work in progress as well.
2. Please remember to link to your actual blog post, not your main blog page, so others don't have to search.
3. Somewhere in your blog post, you must link back to my blog or put the 'Show & Tell' button in your sidebar. 
4. Please don't just add your link and go. Check out a few of the other links and comment. The best idea is to check out the 3 or 4 links just previous to yours. That way every link will get visited. And maybe you'll pick up a few new followers along the way.
5. You don't have to follow me to post your link on my blog, but that would be much appreciated.
6. Have fun. This is a party after all.

Here's my button:

<a href=’http://catscrossing-laura.blogspot.ca/p/show-tell.html'> <img src=' http://i1331.photobucket.com/albums/w583/september59/CatrsquosCrossing_zps2b7e332e.png ' style='border:none;'> </a>

An InLinkz Link-up