Finishing "Ala Allie"

There was a time that (like many other stitchers) when I was finishing a set of blocks I was content with adding a simple sashing, border and binding.  But since I have followed Allie Aller for the last few years I could never do that anymore.

Making a incredible focal piece is just a beginning for Allie.  Everything she adds to finish it not only coordinates with the piece, it enhances it and the entire project becomes grander with each addition and most important, it is all in harmony. 

 Her current piece of work has a wonderful floral piece as the center to which she added an embellished CQ border.  That  might be enough for an ordinary person...not Allie. She added another CQ border which would have been extraordinary by itself....not Allie.  She is now adding hundreds of leaves which will require additional hours to the finishing.  When Allie has a vision she never considers the extra work involved.  I so admire the way she finishes everything that now every time I am about to finish something I have conversations with Allie in my head.

The cottage blocks I'm finishing into books is a case in point:

And I think the embellished backings will work beautifully with the cottage blocks especially since most of the blocks have a similar stripe in them... Now I just need to do 13 more...   Thank for the advice Allie!!!

Fast, easy and painless piecing

(I combined  previous posts into this one.) I know many people love piecing blocks but for me it is a tedious chore at  best.  So whenever I am doing a batch I do a couple extra.  Since I have the whole mess out, it not that hard to do a couple more.  I keep a bag of the extras and sometimes I use them when I join a round robin or give them to a student to get them going...  I just want to get the blocks done as soon as I'm able and get to the fun part...

I've tried the Martha Green's crumb method,  Allie's curve method, and Judith Montano method's of piecing.  But I always go back to just paper piecing and mostly use the same pattern over and over... This time  I'm using  Sharon Boggin's block pattern - #28.  This means every single block is #28.  Once you rotate the blocks and embellish, no one ever notices that they are all the same pattern...  Believe me!!!! I  enlarged it a bit so I will have an 8" square block when done.  If want some advice on choosing a paper pattern I posted some here.

I don't even pay any attention to what colors are going to go where on a block when cutting.  Once I have my pile of fabrics I just start stacking and cutting at random ... trying to get as many different fabrics per patch as possible...  Then I will sorta deal them out at random, making any necessary adjustments.  Of course this works the best when you have a large selection of fabric like I did this time..

 



If you did a good job gathering fabrics which  are harmonious, it is nearly impossible to mess up from that point on.  If you look at your fabrics in a pile and like them, toss them around and still like them, they are going to look good on a block no matter what you do... This the "pile test".  I do this with trims with students even before they pick fabric because it you assemble a pile of trims that work together, you can work backwards and pick the fabric last..

Now I had several choices.. I could make blocks one each month, or in smaller batches or do all 12 at once.  Doing them all at once will give you a more consistent look if you plan to use them together.. I chose all at once because piecing is not my favorite and I wanted it over with.  Here is how I go about it.

Stach &  Wack:  I just stack random fabrics from the pile five at a time and cut.    Because I  am piecing 14 blocks I cut 14 assorted  fabric of each pattern piece.. no plan.   You can see the pile of patches on the left. I put up two card tables and laid out 14 squares of card stock paper.
Note: the card stock sheets act as a tray

Then I took a pile of each pattern piece and just randomly put it on a square in the right position. Trying not to put two of the same fabric adjacent to each other.

Until I had them all out... Then I stepped back and tweeked a few here and there.  I try to balance out color, value, and patterns at this point...I'm not too fussy.  I had a lot of   patches from paisley ties and I wanted some on each block..  This goes VERY fast because I try to not overthink this at this point...  Any goofs I make at this point can be dealt with when I start embellishing.

The pieces of card stock act like trays and I can just pile them up and head to the sewing machine.

I set a small folding table (old TV tray table) next to the sewing machine, put a towel and my little travel steam iron on it so I can press  seams without getting up.  And off I go with the pieces already on the paper trays  next to the machine.  I stitch all the 1s and 2s,, press...add all 3s press and so on

Within no time I have them 14 done.
Although I pressed seams as I went along, at this point they need a good press and put on a foundation but the piecing is done for the entire year..

These are very rich blocks in this winter pastel palette.  Lots of silk, taffetas, and velvets. Most of the silk patterned patches are from a day we hit a thrift store with an overstock of ties that were only 49 cents a piece.

CQJP2015 Assembled and finished...

Finished.. and I couldn't be happier with them..

I so grateful to Margreet who introduced me to making books with my blocks.  I love it when friends can actually touch and feel the work.




















I think the ads on the lining worked out well. Here you can glance over the pages... I think I missed a couple but you get the idea..

CQJP 2015 FINISHED!!!!

November block

December Block

Let the assembling begin!

 

CQJP progress

Since my CQJP blocks are going to be in book form I need to back each "page"  I put old corset ads on the backing and took them on the trip with me and edged each ad with lace and added greenery..










































There are twelve of them.  It was the perfect travel project as it was easy to start and stop and not to complicated as to supplies.....

I had Nov and Dec. almost done when we left for London and  hopefully will finish them when DH is out of town next week.  I have started assembling some of the earlier months and taking them along with me to trim them in lace... I am still playing "catch up" with jet lag, holidays and obligations so hope to get London stuff photographed tomorrow or Thursday.

Working in threes!

This entire CQJP project I have been working in threes.  Not really intentionally but it has worked out that way and I like it.  I put down the laces and trims on three blocks and then do the blocks one by one for the rest of the embellishment..  DH has been gone all week and one of those days I stayed in my nightclothes most of the day and just stitched.  It felt so decadent.

Lower left is the October block which I may indeed finish in October which I did not think possible last month.  Usually I get kind of tired of a theme or color scheme after this many blocks but these have been very restful colors and the challenge of the ribbon folding technique has really peaked my interest all along.

Enough that the next CQJP project will not have a theme as such but be focused on technique. I must be on the road to recovery as I am actually having pain-free (well almost pain free) coherent thoughts.  The therapy on the shoulder is going well, the ribs are mostly healed and the bruising on the rest of my body has faded..

My day was waylaid.....

The last thing before I fall asleep I often plan what I want to do the next day.  I love waking up with a sense of purpose.  DH is out of town and I had a lovely long uninterrupted day ahead. And I decided I was going to spend the day painting buttons and answering emails.  I did neither.

I got the lace and trims on the last three blocks last night and this morning I awoke wondering where was the blue silk I bought in LA two years ago and what did I do with the two extra blocks I made for the covers for the corset cuties.  And so I ended up making a huge mess but finally found the silk, etc. and was able to sort tons of things out. But not until I had made a huge mess everywhere.   My goal is to go right into January and finish this project.  I got the silk page linings cut today, the interfacing applied, and the seam lines basted.  Now I can add the corset ads and embellished them. These linings will be my on-the-go blocks for the next two months.

I decided I would not start any new projects in 2016 until I finished the hanky project and the cottage project.  The hanky project has been held up because I could not find exactly what I wanted to back and border it with.  I had my heart set on a dusky blue moiré taffeta and it proved almost impossible to find... But I have it now and will move ahead after the first of the year.  There will be lots of embroidery on the taffeta so this is not a quickie project.

The second big finish will be the cottage blocks.  I originally intended for these to be a book.  But after the excitement of a quilt in Houston, I thought I might finish it as a quilt and enter it.  I just could not make a firm decision.  But now I have.  I will go with my first plan and make it into a book.  Friends and family can look at it in a book and I know that  I  (nor anyone else) would ever hang it on a wall... so a book it is.  I have this lovely striped silk for the linings and now that I have made that decision I am eager to do this.  I loved these blocks from start to finish.  The blocks are only 7" but I want the book pages to be about 12" square so each block will be bordered and embellished.  So this also will be a time consuming finish.

When I do finish these, which will probably take several months, I ran across two projects to finish that have been shunted aside.....  especially  the peacock piece which I have MANY hours already into.  The other is a ORANGE piece with a Moroccan theme. 

So even though not one button was painted, it was a very productive day and just what I needed to get myself going again.

Cool web site.

 When I did the post about corset ads Lacysuzette sent me the coolest website...  http://vintagepassementerie.com/products-page/vintage-lingerie-trims/  Even if I can't afford some of it, it is a joy just to see it.

The most exciting for me was the section on ribbon folding and ribbon trims..  They don't sell these trims but do sell the two-sided ribbon to do this fantastic trim.  I think I have some ribbon very similar and want to try these.. Aren't they absolutely  gorgeous?  Plus they sold lots of flower trims by the yard.






They also sell  vintage items  and in the section on lingerie there is pink Vionnet corset trim, hook/eye corset trim & ribbons with attached lace.  Which I am thinking I might find a use for as I assemble my books of corset cuties...maybe on the cover.  To the left  is another trim that I thought was lovely..  The really old vintage stuff is quite expensive as you would expect, but there were many affordable items like this one as well.

 

They also had some lovely appliques.  Again the truly vintage ones were expensive.  But for something really special, I could be tempted.
I particularly liked this one which was NOT expensive and could be cut up.

So thank you Lacysuzette for sending me that link... and I would love the scans you mentioned.  There was no reply option to your post.  If you will email me at olderrose@gmail.com  we can work out the details...

I might need a "Dowager!"

Now that I can actually see the corset cuties getting finished I can start thinking about the finished pieces...as there will be two books from these blocks. ... one each for my youngest granddaughters.
On the lining or back side of each "page" will be a vintage ad or two.  I began collecting them when I started the suffrage project as they were so much a part of women's lives at that time.
Some are elegant, some are humorous and some are frightening.  The ones I didn't save are the ones advertising corsets for pregnant women and corsets for young children.  Here are a few that will probably make the cut for the books.

How about the "Princess Hip" or the "Dowager" that will properly reduce stout figures to correct proportions.  What's with the spider element?

 Or how about the ad showing the old out-of-style silhouette vs. the newest look?

 And heaven forbid that we have brass eyelets.... haven't the foggiest what a "Paris clasp" was...

And there were a lot of whimsical ads which I'm sure were meant to target the young ladies with romance on their minds.....

 

Just the ads themselves would be a great set of blocks. I even gave that a thought at the beginning but opted for the "real" girls but happy to find a way in incorporate the ads into the project.

September and a makeover is needed

Last night I finished the September CQJP block... Which means I get to actually get to start the October block IN October which is the same as being caught up...Again a folded ribbon is the "star" of this block.  Susie did this one as it was one of the most difficult of the ones I wanted.  I am going to have to fold a few more ribbons for the last three months.

 

I started out this morning ready to hit a lot of thrift stores in search of a new suitcase that would fit my needs for a special trip coming up soon. .. And if I didn't find one I was set to go to Macy's and buy a new one...  I found it at the very first stop... the Volunteers of America . Brand new for $20.  It is exactly what I wanted except it is orange.. VERY ORANGE....  It needs a bit of a makeover...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was also looking for a bag/tote to use for my needlework and in place of a carry-on.  I found a fabulous one. large, lightweight, soft and has tons of pockets and NEW.    I saved so much money I treated myself to lunch at the Panda Express.  I love their "Honey Walnut Shrimp" with rice.