40 Country Quilting Projects: Iris Medallion Quilt

 I have a lot of older quilting books. I've picked them up at various thrift stores, clearance sales at quilt shops, library sales, etc. When I use an older book, I do expect there to be some outdated techniques, but I don't have a problem with that. I've been making quilts long enough now that I'm confident enough to choose a technique that suits me better. But what I don't expect are errors: miscalculations in yardage, incorrect cutting measurements, inadequate or missing instructions... And, in my opinion, any pattern should have pattern testers before it's published: at least one person, preferably 2 or 3 or more that is at the experience level of the target audience for the pattern and completes the whole project following the pattern exactly. That way any errors can be found and corrected prior to publication. It's not enough that the original pattern designer has made the quilt. That designer might have certain steps that are so automatic that he/she neglects to include them in the instructions. Or maybe there were distractions during the writing of the pattern and things got written incorrectly, or excluded altogether. So pattern testers are a necessity. But, from my experience, it appears that there have been a lot of patterns published with no prior testing whatsoever. Which is quite a pity. A really poorly written pattern could be enough to discourage a beginner from pursuing the hobby altogether. And that would be a shame. 
So, in all honesty, I cannot recommend this book, unless you're a relatively experienced quilter and are into brain challenges. 

There are just too many mistakes. I have done quite a number of projects from this book now, and I think that's more than sufficient to know that it is not a great quilting book. 
I originally posted about my quilting book challenge back in December of 2016: I was planning on completing every project in this book, with some possible modifications, like using fusible web for my applique, and never hand stitching unless absolutely necessary. I had no idea that many of the modifications would end up being correcting the patterns. And by the way, I'm not really sure how the author calculated the number of projects: if I made 3 Christmas ornaments, does that count as one project, or three? So, I'm not totally sure what number I'm at, so the 40 in the title is a best guestimate. 
But on to the challenges with this particular pattern:
First of all, I will say that I can't honestly speak to the yardage requirements. I switched colours, added fabric from other projects and sometimes did my own thing, but as far as I can tell, the fabric yardages listed are reasonably accurate. Not so for making Template G. It states 12½ x 12½ x 17¾-inch right triangle. Hmm, knowing what I do about HSTs (half square triangles), I think that following these measurements will end up with a square that's slightly too small. Making an HST unit that ends up 12½" square (12" finished size), I need to start with squares that are 12⅞", not 12½". So, I ended up making HST units according to my knowledge, and not cut individual triangles using a template that wasn't the correct size. 
My main concern with this pattern, however, is the cutting charts, particularly for the appliqué blocks. For the individual iris blocks, it says to cut 12 of Template L. This is the leaf template, and it neglects to state that you also need 12 of the reverse of Template L. Then for the centre medallion, it calls for 8 of Template O and 8 of Template P, also leaf templates. This time, the amount was correct, but half of those 8 each need to be reversed. Otherwise all of the leaves would be pointing in the same direction. 

When it came to actually doing the appliqué, I found that the instructions were not as clear as I would have liked. There are no specific measurements or guidelines for positioning the pieces. For example, in the centre medallion, you start by putting the 'O' leaves on. Obviously, from both the diagram and the quilt pictures, these leaves are partway up the stem, but there is no indication for how far up the stem. Furthermore, the diagram shows the 'O' leaves on the vertical and horizontal, and later instructs the quilter to put the 'P' leaves on the diagonal, but the quilt pictures show the opposite. I went with the placement in the pictures, and just guestimated for where to put the 'O' leaves. As far as the stems go, I felt that they were too short and made mine longer.

There were also no measurements for where to attach the corners on the centre medallion. 
As for the rest of the instructions, I was occasionally referring to them, but mostly doing what I knew needed to be done. I found it rather peculiar that the Quilting Basics chapter does discuss strip piecing, but never recommends using it for the 9-patches, which would have been ideal for that technique. And that's what I did. 

I did a little research into why this book would have still been using templates for so many of the pieces that were pretty basic measurements. Apparently, while rotary cutters, mats and rulers existed at this time (1990), many quilters and quilt publications were still using templates. And that would be why the cutting charts in this book indicate the number of pieces required, but not how many strips to cut first. If you're interested in a little history of quilting templates, you can find it here. 
Anyway, my personal design changes in this quilt:
Initially, I was going to do the irises all in purple, as per the pattern, but the sister for whom I was making this quilt really likes yellow, so I opted for bi-colour irises, incorporating the yellow. 
Of course, I used fusible web and machine stitching for the appliqué, rather than freezer paper and hand stitching. I would still be working on this quilt a decade from now if I was hand stitching all of those pieces down - 160 individual pieces. And I did not use bias strips for the stems - just regular fabric and fusible web, stitched down by machine. 
The original size of the quilt was to be 84 x 108 inches, but I wanted it 90", my preferred width for a queen-sized quilt. So, I added the checkerboard border on the sides. 
The "trunk" of the pine tree in the pine tree block was supposed to have been the same dark green as the solid green triangle and square in the block. But who has ever seen a dark green tree trunk? At least not on a pine tree. I used brown instead. And I opted for a more medium green as well. I felt that the dark green in the quilt pictures kind of "shouted" and was rather distracting from what should have been the focus of the quilt - the irises. 

I also chose not to use blue in the 9-patch, opting instead for an alternate purple print.
If I had to do it over again, I would probably choose to use fabrics with greater contrast for the yellow parts of the irises. And in the individual iris blocks, I likely would have also decided on greater contrast between the green leaves and the green part of the background. 
In spite of all of the challenges, it really is a beautiful quilt. And, as you can see, it looks significantly different from the one in the cover photo on the book. I told my middle sister, Nancy, that if Therese (the sister for whom this quilt was made) doesn't like it, she should give it back because I sure do. And Nancy said that she would be next in line. 
For the quilting, I had really wanted to use an iris pantograph, but I wasn't pleased with either Iris Clamshell or Siberian Iris from Urban Elementz. They were too sharp and stylized. The iris design included in the Flower Flakes collection from Meadow Lyon is very pretty, and more what I wanted, but it was just a single block, not an edge to edge design. And really, since I own so many pantographs that I have yet to use, I could hardly justify buying a new pantograph. And I certainly didn't wish to buy a whole bunch of them in order to justify the cost of shipping. So, rather reluctantly, I was planning on choosing a design from my rather extensive "library" of pantographs. But I hadn't totally given up on the idea of an iris pantograph, and I finally decided to check Anne Bright Designs. It's not a vendor I resort to often. She doesn't sell paper pantographs. Most of her designs are digital, although she does have a few self-print. I might have mentioned before that I am not a fan of self-print. I don't like having to print out multiple pieces of paper and trying to precisely line them up and tape them together. And then, if I want to keep it, how I am supposed to store this mass of paper and tape? What I choose to do instead is print out one repeat of the design in the size I want, and trace it onto a roll of paper cut to pantograph size (12'). The roll of paper is actually for a children's easel, and I bought it on Amazon. But that is quite a tedious job as well. 

Nevertheless, I found a design I liked: Iris for Donna. I enlarged it 200% to get it to the size I wanted. My hand weights came in handy to keep the paper in place whilte tracing. But it took me several days, and probably loss of brain cells due to inhaling the magic marker smell. But I was happy with it. 

In spite of enlarging it 200%, it is still a pretty delicate design, and I certainly had to take my time quilting this one. But I got it quilted within 2 or 3 days, and I got it in the mail to my sister. 

Because I'm a bit of a numbers nerd, sometimes I like to keep track of things. In the picture is bobbin number 8, that I only used part of, so over 7 bobbins to quilt this quilt. The 1100 metre spool of Aurilux thread was full when I started (cone of blue on the right for comparison). And that was just for bobbin thread. I used Glide on the top. 
 
Interestingly, I kept the invoice for when I purchased most of the fabric used in this quilt because I made notes on it for which fabric to use for what part of the quilt. The invoice is dated 2017, so it was long overdue to be completed. And that's it - my final quilt for my sisters. Now, I really should make one for my own bed!

Beachcomber

 

When our local quilt shop was selling out, my daughter, grandson and I visited there together at least a couple of times. On one of those occasions, my daughter called me over to show me this quilt kit, and asked if I would make it for her. Though she had taken a couple of quilt classes as a child, she is really not a quilter. She sews, crochets and knits, but, aside from those few projects she completed as a child, she does not make quilts. But she wanted this quilt and knew who could - and would - make it for her. I bought the kit and decided to make it for her birthday. And, because she likes "soft and snuggly", I decided to back it with minky - deep pile, textured minky. 
If you know anything about quiltmaking, you will recognize that this quilt design is far from simple. It's a Mariner's Compass, which is well known for being a complex quilt block, or in this case, the whole quilt top. It lends itself best to foundation paper piecing (fpp), as I did for the Christmas Star table topper, as well as the Sailor's Delight block I used in both the Bluenose II Pixel quilt and Audacious, which use variations of the Mariner's Compass. But for this quilt, that would have required huge pieces of paper to complete it. Instead, the pattern provided paper templates, many of which took up more than one sheet of paper and had to be taped together. 
I wasn't that impressed with the fabric choices in this kit. The pattern was designed for nautically-themed fabric, and some of this fabric was floral-themed. And some had these funky circles, which, while from the same line as the floral fabric, didn't seem to coordinate that well. And I didn't think there was enough contrast between the fabrics used for the mid-sized compass points. The pattern called for a different background fabric between the small compass points, and I actually considered switching out the black there. But this was the kit my daughter had chosen, and I decided to assemble it according to the kit. The only change I made was to add the narrow black border to tame down the checkerboard border as I felt it was competing with the main design of the quilt top. Plus I prefer to have an unpieced border to attach the binding to, so that the binding doesn't cover up any of the piecing. And I'm very happy with how it turned out.
As for assembling the quilt top, when you have so many points coming together in the middle of a circle, you have a lot of bias edges and a lot of bulk, and it's hard to keep the centre flat. In this case, not only was the centre of the quilt top not flat, I had a mini mountain. I tried pressing it out, using lots of starch, but I ended up having to take in the centre seams to make a flat quit top. And success! I was finally happy with how the quilt top turned out. 
Now for the quilting. Because the fabric was more floral-themed and not at all nautical, I considered naming the quilt "Garden Sundial" and using a floral pantograph. Yes, I've talked about my indecisiveness before... But I decided to stick with the more nautical theme and quilted it with Dave's Seashells and kept the pattern name, "Beachcomber". 

 As I mentioned, the minky backing had a deep, textured pile. 

And that meant a lot of fibres pulled through to the front with the quilting. 

It also meant lots of free floating fibre, especially when I was trimming the batting and backing.

But once the edges were encased in binding, that problem was solved.
And my daughter is very happy with her quilt. And so is one of her cats, who also really loves snuggly blankets. 

Christmas Birds Table Runner

 

As I was getting ready for the fair(s) this year, I wasn't sure how many of the local fairs I was going to enter. I can enter the same projects in two of the fairs, but the other fair overlaps with one of the other two. Thinking ahead, I wanted to be prepared to enter something in the Christmas table runner class in the third fair. Rummaging around in the studio (maybe some day, I'll get it organized so I don't have to do so much rummaging), I came across this kit that's been in my stash for numerous years. The pattern is called The Big Easy! from Pieced Tree Patterns. (I can't link to it because my anti-virus software keeps blocking their webpage). It was quick and simple and the kit included backing fabric. So, I made it up. 

I used the Chickadee Christmas Trio pantograph to quilt it, bound it, and it was done. 
As it turned out, I only entered one fair, so this one hasn't been entered anywhere. Maybe next year. But it is really pretty. I love Christmas birds. 

No Tortoise Project updates because I haven't really been working on any of them. But I did start the Maple Leaf Forever scarf. When I was at Len's Mill in Ontario, I picked up the pattern leaflet for this scarf. Once back in Alberta, I bought some Red Heart Comfort in red shimmer and started the project.

Unfortunately, I soon found that something wasn't quite right with the pattern. There was an extra column of knitting beside the maple leaf motif, which should have been part of the seed stitch border. And the finished measurements were off for the amount of repeats that there were. Instead of 60", the scarf would end up being over 8 feet long!
I went to the Yarnspirations website and found that they had corrected the pattern. So, I ripped out all of my work and started fresh. Their measurements still weren't accurate, however. According to their gauge, "24 rows = 4" in stocking stitch", or 6 rows for one inch. There are 12 rows of seed stitch (6 at the beginning and 6 at the end), 22 rows in each of 8 maple leaves (4 of Chart I and 4 of Chart II) for 176 rows, with 9 sections of 26 rows (personally, I think there should only be 24 rows, but I'm following the pattern as written, which says to "repeat last 2 rows 12 times more", and I think it should just be 11) of straight stockinette stitch in between the maple leaves for 234 rows. 12+176+234=422. A total of 422 rows divided by 6 rows per inch equals a scarf that's almost 6 feet long (70.33"), significantly longer than the 60" that the pattern states. Even if we lopped off the 2 rows of stockinette stitch in each of the 9 sections, as I think it should be, that would only be 3" shorter in total length (2x9/6), so I'm really not sure where they got the 60" measurement from. Because the pattern is "mirror image"(do the maple leaves on one half of the scarf pointing in one direction, and on the other half pointing in the other direction), I couldn't leave out one maple leaf. I would have to leave out 2 to keep it even, and that would make the scarf too short. 
Anyway, I'm going to end up with a very long scarf, but certainly not as long as the original pattern leaflet I started out with, which had 5 maple leaves on each half of the scarf. 

The maple leaves are not showing up as well as I would like either. 

They seem to stand out slightly better on the reverse side. But neither looks as good as the picture with the pattern. Maybe it's because I used a different yarn from what the pattern calls for. Nevertheless, I'm still happy with it. And I'm almost done. 

Swan Lake Surprise

 

One time when I took a road trip (I can' t remember why) I decided to stop in at my last work site on my way home. I had a great visit with my former colleagues, and discovered that one of them (the one who took my position) was pregnant with her third child. As I was off on mental health leave when she had her first two (was I really off work that long? Or maybe she had been on her first maternity leave when I went on mental health leave). Anyway, I had not given her anything for either of her other children, but I determined to give her a quilt for the third one.
That visit happened before my vacation to Ontario, and then there was the fair and getting projects finished for it, so I was kept busy with other projects. I was rather hoping that she would have a boy as I still have Work Zone and Blast Off that haven't found recipients yet. But in case she didn't, I decided to start working on a gender neutral quilt. More about that one in another post. 
However, as her due date neared, I decided I might as well wait and see what the baby's gender was. I still had the rest of the Lily's Pond layer cake that I used for La Petite Princesse, plus more backing fabric in that line, that I could use for a girl's quilt, if necessary. And, as it turned out, she did have a girl.
However, I decided that I didn't really want to use the Quick and Easy Baby Quilt idea again. I didn't want it to be too similar to La Petite Princesse, and might have used a different background fabric like a bright pink, if I had it, but my only other background option was black - definitely not for a baby girl! I pondered different options, rummaged in my stash a little, and finally decided to do another Baby Alter Ego.
Bad choice! When I put the blocks up on my design wall, I didn't like it at all. The fabric in this line is all so pale that there wasn't enough contrast to give it any visual interest. It looked washed out and boring. And I didn't know what to do to make it better. 
There is some brown in this fabric collection, and I did have some dark brown solid in my stash. It wasn't a perfect match and I was afraid that it might overwhelm the pale colours. So, I decided to experiment with some narrow sashing between the blocks. And I liked it!. So I sashed the whole quilt top, and added a pale pink solid border. And in case you're wondering why I didn't use the pale pink as contrast/background with the Lily's Pond layer cake, I felt that it was just too pale and the whole quilt would look washed out. But it looks great in the border. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I often find myself singing something that, however loosely, coordinates with what I'm working on. So this time it was "Swans on the Lake". If you've ever used the John Thompson Grade 1 piano book, then you might remember it. You can find the words here. 
On to the quilting design. Depression and anxiety can make one very indecisive, and I have been finding that I am often challenged when it comes to picking a quilt design for the quilt. When I first purchased the fabric, I also purchased a pantograph called Pond Lily to go with it. Unfortunately, Lily's Pond - the fabric - features swans, whereas Pond Lily - the pantograph - features frogs. I chose not to use Pond Lily when I made La Petite Princesse, choosing Crowns-n-Diamonds instead to go with the princess theme and the fact that some of the swans were wearing crowns. But I didn't want to use that one again. As I've mentioned previously, I'm trying to go through my stash of pantographs and use every one at least once. But which one to use? I considered several and, on Facebook, jokingly suggested quilting spiders on a little girl's quilt. And then I thought, why not frogs? It's funny and cute and a little surprising. And the pantograph does feature lilies as well, as does the fabric. Besides, there once was a frog that turned into a handsome prince (although not in the same fairy tale as the swan). So that's what I did. And then the song going through my head was, "Frog, He Would a-Wooing Go".

Not everything has to be exactly as we expect. And hence why I called the quilt, "Swan Lake Surprise". I haven't shared a link to the pantograph because it was a Willow Leaf pantograph. While Urban Elementz does have one by the same name and by the same designer, the design has been changed and I like mine better.
Meanwhile, I played batting chicken when I short-changed myself in cutting the batting. 

I'm not sure how that happened, but thank God, I won. 
I also decided to do a vertical seam on the backing. Directional prints can be challenging when making a quilt backing, because they're usually running in the wrong direction. Sometimes, like with La Petite Princesse, I don't let it bother me and just make the quilt with the print running sideways. But this time, I decided against it, which meant I had to piece the backing differently, having to use smaller pieces at the bottom to make all of the print run in the correct direction. And since I've had the fabric in my stash for several years, not to mention the fact that the new Craftsy no longer sells fabric, it's not like I could buy any more. 

But it's done, and thank the Lord, it arrived at it's destination shortly before the latest postal strike started. 
I thank God that He inspired me with the idea of the brown sashing. In my opinion, it vastly improved what would have otherwise been an incredibly blah quilt. You may not agree with me, but I believe God is the original author of all good ideas. And that brings to mind one of my favourite Bible verses. 

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

GOD'S PLANS ARE ALWAYS BEST
I'm not talking about quilts here. Whether I had gone with the brown sashing or some other idea is really insignificant in the eternal scheme of things. But He does have a plan for each one of our lives. And His plans are always best. We may think we know best, and things may appear to be going better when following our own plans. But ultimately, if our plans do not agree with HIs, we will eventually meet with loss by following our own ideas, if not in this life, then in eternity. 
However, I will admit that it isn't always easy to discover God's plan for us. While He is trying to teach us valuable lessons, we are often too impatient to wait and proceed without His guidance. And then what? When we find ourselves down the "wrong road", is there any hope?
GOD ALWAYS HAS A PLAN 'B'
It's been my experience that even when I take a wrong turn, God is still patiently waiting for me to ask for His help. He may have to take me through an unpleasant detour because I've gotten so far off the track, but He can and will get me back, as long as I am willing to continue to follow Him. The verses following the one quoted above have this to say: 

"Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back..."
Jeremiah 29:12-14a NIV

Never fear to return to Him, even when you think you are too far gone. As the apostle Paul said, 

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
1 Timothy 1:15 KJV

Tea Party

One time I was visiting the quilt shop in the "next town over", and found the sample for this table runner and placemat set and fell "in love" with the fabric. 

It features plates and teacups, and I asked if she (the shop owner) had any of the fabric in stock. No, but she did still have one of the kits left. So, I bought it, one of the few occasions that I bought a kit and also one of the few occasions that I bought fabric at full price. And ouch! It definitely wasn't cheap! But it did include the backing, so I was at least saved that expense. 
With the fair coming up, I wanted items to enter in the table runner and placemat classes, and I had little time left. Unfortunately, the placemats I'd made recently were only in sets of 3 (Cat Chow and Starlight), as I made them primarily for my main company: my daughter and grandson, plus me, of course. And I needed four to enter them in the placemat class. As this kit had 4 placemats and a table runner, plus the construction was fairly straightforward and could be completed relatively quickly, I decided to make this set. 
Disappointingly, I was not as thrilled with it as I had been in the store. I'm not sure if she had made them with the yellow fabric on the front instead of the back. 

But somehow, it just didn't thrill me like it had before. And there wasn't enough of the blue fabric to do the backing, so I couldn't switch it up. 

I quilted the set on the longarm, using the High Tea pantograph, which features teapots, teacups and cupcakes. 
It's pretty, but I still think I would have preferred the yellow on the front instead of the blue. The placemats won a second place ribbon at the fair and the table runner a third. Next year, I will have to wow the judges with a more elaborate design than this relatively simple set. If I choose to enter at all. Entering fairs can be a lot of work. 



 

A Couple of Projects from a "New" Book

 

I never know what treasures I might find in thrift stores. This book came from my local thrift store and it does have some unique and interesting gift ideas. In addition to patterns/instructions for the gifts, it also has patterns and templates for a number of 10" blocks. Unfortunately, the templates do not have seam allowance included, which I found rather frustrating. But I made a note in the block section of the book to remind me of this. 
My grandson was with me when I bought the book, and as I was perusing it once we got home, we discussed making the quilted shawl for my daughter. She had complained about the office at work being too cold and she was planning on knitting or crocheting a shawl to keep her warm when she's there. Knowing that she was trying to get her career on track and that she likely wouldn't get one done that quickly, I figured I could make this one for her and give it to her for her birthday. 

From the block "library" in the book, I selected the budding rose quilt block, as it looks good on point, something necessary for this project. So, I called the project the Budding Roses Shawl.

The block was a little bit challenging as it involved some "interesting" seams.

I'm not sure what you would call this: a double Y-seam? Or just 2 Y-seams quite close together. 

I edited this photo to show how I did it, lining up the orange seam first, followed by the fuschia and the lime green seams. 
With Damian's help, I chose the colours. Sophia's favourite colour is orange, so I decided on the peach colour for the background. She also likes colours in the teal/aqua family, so that is what I chose for the flowers. And I decided to do the flowers in solid fabrics as it would make choosing gradients of the same colour easier. 
I don't generally like the blocks in my projects to come right to the edges, as the binding often overlaps too much of the block and partially obscures it. So, I opted to add a 1" border with the background fabric. 

I've probably mentioned before that I am trying to use the many quilting pantographs I own that I haven't used before. So for most of my latest projects, that is what I have been doing. However, I couldn't find an unused pantograph that I felt suited this shawl, and opted for Tea Rose, a relatively simple but still very pretty design. Because the shawl has a minky backing, I didn't want to use a denser pantograph like Abstract Rose, which is probably my favourite floral pantograph. 
I'm not entirely thrilled with my block choice in this shawl, but overall, I still think it looks good.
I entered the shawl in the quilted clothing class in my local fair, where it won a first place ribbon. (I'm sure it helped that it didn't have any competition). And my daughter loves her shawl. 
As I was flipping through the pages of the book, I came across a pattern/idea for this Yuletide Stocking. As I knew that there was a Christmas stocking class in the bench show at the local fair, I decided to make one. 

The one in the book wasn't actually quilted, but I opted to do quilt as you go with my stocking. It was a good project to use some of the lace I have in my stash, most of which came from my mother's stash. And I have plenty of Christmas fabric in my stash as well. 

As the back of the stocking was not pieced, I just did diagonal lines for the quilting. Both the front and back were quilted on my domestic machine. 
Again, I was not entirely thrilled with the finished project. Because I added quilt batting, and a muslin faux backing for the quilting, which gave more bulk in the seams, it ended up narrower than I would have liked for a Christmas stocking. And the front didn't end up as pretty as I would have liked. It did, however, win a second place ribbon in the local fair (where it did have competition).  

Weather Alert

 

You've seen this quilt, partially finished, when I did my book review of Quilter's Scrap Pantry. Well, it's done now, and I'm so happy with it that I put a hanging sleeve on it and hung it on a wall. 
Weather Alert may seem like an odd name for a quilt, but when I started working on it in the summer of 2024, we were getting so many weather alerts and advisories that I was just hunkering down in my basement studio, working on this quilt. And so that's what I decided to call it. 
All of the fabrics used in this quilt top have been used in previous quilts, though don't ask me to remember what each of them are. I can recall some of them, but not all. I will say that the flying geese border is mostly made of scraps from the Family quilts I made. I wanted to include them all in the same border. 
And even the binding is scrappy. I have amassed quite a collection of binding scraps over the years, and I was glad to be able to use some of them here. 

For the quilting, I chose a variegated thread and a pantograph called Jungle Party. 
As I said, this one I'm keeping.