Pattern Review: Saltwater Taffy by Fig Tree & Co.

Yay!  I finally managed to finish my Lemon Taffy quilt (more pictures are coming) just in time for my sister-in-law's baby shower last Saturday.  I was really happy with the way it turned out and I'm so glad that I was able to make the push to finish it last week ... as my niece decided that she was going to make her debut into the world the day after her shower ... 6 1/2 weeks early! Mama and Baby are doing great and we're so excited over the newest little member of the family.


I'm still in the process of downloading and editing pictures from the weekend, but in the meantime I wanted to share my pattern review with you, before I forgot the details.


Pattern: “Saltwater Taffy” by JoAnna Figueroa, of Fig Tree & Co.

(JoAnna's Version)

Quality of Pattern: This was the first pattern I tried from JoAnna @ Fig Tree & Co.  One of the things that struck me almost immediately was that the full pattern was entirely in color.  Now, don't get me wrong - there is absolutely nothing wrong with black and white patterns, but this one was very visually appealing, and with multiple steps in the block construction process, full color definitely was a bonus.


I felt that the directions were well written - especially since the steps for block construction were involved - but they definitely required several readings.  I made the mistake of only reading through once before piecing (and of sewing at 1:00AM), and ended up having to pull apart corners from about 25 squares.  Arg.


Difficulty Level and Technique: While there was nothing I can specifically pinpoint that made this quilt tricky, this is definitely not one to try for those quilters who aren't feeling really comfortable with some of the basic quilting skills, ie: trimming with templates, accurately piecing pinwheel blocks, squaring/trimming blocks, working with pieces that were cut on the bias, pressing instead of ironing (!!!!!!), etc.

None of these are really difficult on their own, but this quilt pattern layers these techniques (and more!) on top of each other, and repeats them over a number of steps in the block construction process.  The blocks turn out beautifully, but require a lot of dedication and care (and the willingness to re-piece, as necessary) to put together.

Adaptability:  Aside from leaving a row off, I made my quilt true to the pattern.  I would imagine that you could change the block size as needed, but it would require a bit of math.  It really wouldn't be that difficult to do, but the pattern yields such good-sized blocks already (just about 8") that I don't know if I'm personally willing to burn off the brain cells to re-size it.

Speed: This quilt is definitely not a weekend project.  There are a number of steps involved in block construction (with lots of trimming and re-trimming), and extreme accuracy is a must ... but it's totally worth the time.  This is definitely more of an "enjoy the process of sewing and construction" quilt, rather than an "I love the gratification of finishing quickly" quilt.

Would I make this pattern again?:  I'd definitely like to try this one again, but I'll probably wait for awhile.  Next time around, I might play with making some of my setting triangles a bit larger, so that the blocks trim up more smoothly, and I think that rather than having my colors match in the "X-intersection," I think it would be fun to match colors within the octagon instead.  It would definitely take quite a bit of planning ... but that's what our design boards are for, right?

Happy Quilting!!

Pattern Review: "Hot Cross" by Carrie Nelson

Pattern: “Hot Cross” in Schnibbles Times Two, by Carrie Nelson, of Miss Rosie’s Quilt Co.

(Carrie Nelson's Version)

Quality of Pattern: As mentioned with the “X-Rated” and “Plan-C” reviews, I’m a big fan of Carrie Nelson’s patterns. They’re straightforward and concise – no extra fluff, which is nice. It’s inspired me to go back and re-work a couple of my own patterns.

Difficulty Level & Technique: I feel that I can classify most of the patterns I write and the other designers’ patterns I try somewhere in the range of “Confident Beginner to Early Intermediate.” I feel like this baby is more firmly in the Intermediate range. Perhaps I was a little cocky in thinking this was a super easy pattern that was going to go together really quickly – and don’t get me wrong … the blocks just fly together. The re-sizing and assembly, however, were a bit tricky.

I figured that based on the instructions, I could just measure 3.5” from the center of the block to the edge, trim, and I would be ready to put the squares together. Um … nay nay. Now, perhaps this is because maybe I wasn’t as careful or meticulous while I was putting the blocks together, or I wasn’t super-careful while I trimmed the first two blocks, but my corner-stripes were nowhere near the centered right angles they were supposed be. I had to scrap those first two. For the remaining blocks, I used my water-soluble marker to draw lines down the center of each X, and then used those lines, plus my measurement from the center to correctly square the block. I was much happier with the results.

Adaptability: Because I was using fat quarters, rather than layer-cake squares I opted to start with 9” squares to make better use of my stash, rather than the 10” squares the pattern called for. I left all the other measurements the same and just trimmed off the extra fabric.

As with my “Plan C” quilt, I also opted to skip the piano-key border. I wanted this quilt to be more of a lap-sized quilt, so I kept the cream middle border, and added just a top and bottom famed checkerboard border so that it was more rectangular.

Speed: This blocks in this quilt go together really quickly, but accurately trimming the squares takes some time, especially if you use my method of marking the centers of the “X” before cutting. Still, without Carrie’s border, my quilt top went together in about a week.

Would I make this pattern again?: Despite the problems I had with trimming my first couple of squares, I definitely think I’ll be revisiting this quilt soon. I’m planning a red-white-and-black quilt as a Christmas gift that might be super cute with this pattern, and I have an idea inspired by this pattern for more of a latticed type quilt floating around in my head as well … so we’ll see!

Pattern Review: "Plan C" by Carrie Nelson

I'm so disappointed!!  I've been putting off posting my two Schnibbles quilts reviews because I couldn't find the photos we took of the finished quilts.  After searching every computer, zip drive, and camera card in the house, I think I just have to accept the pictures were accidentally deleted somewhere along the line.  I can't tell you how bummed I am because I was so pleased with the way the turned out.  So, here are my pattern reviews anyways, and if by some miracle, I can find the original pictures, I'll post those too.

Pattern: “Plan C” in Schnibbles Times Two, by Carrie Nelson, of Miss Rosie’s Quilt Co.

(Carrie Nelson's version)

Quality of Pattern: I was just as happy with this pattern as I was with the “X-Rated” pattern – everything was clear and concise. I really only used the cutting instructions and then referenced the assembly diagram to lay everything out on my floor. I did have to do some planning before I cut into my stash so I could create a bit of a pattern

Difficulty Level & Technique: This pattern is fairly easy, although much like “X-Rated,” I would say that it’s better suited to quilters who have a little bit of experience under their belts.

From this pattern, I learned a new technique for assembling the flying geese blocks 4 at a time – the process is also outlined on this great blog. This method requires some prep-work, but works great – however … you have to be very careful to reshape and straighten your flying geese units as you press them to make sure that the fabric doesn’t bow out of shape. I obviously wasn’t paying very close attention as I ironed, as I had a bit of problems with wonky blocks. I was able to get them to work with a bit of steam and some starch, but I would have been a bit happier if I had just done things better from the get-go.

Adaptability: I didn’t really change very much on my version of this pattern. Because I unexpectedly had to go out of town for a couple of days, I opted to leave off the piano-key border and used the time for some free motion quilting instead.

You could easily replace the piano-key border with a pattern of your own choosing, thanks to the middle “white” border between the body of the quilt and the border. With a little math, the middle border could be increased or decreased to the specifications of your new border.

Speed: Like the “X-rated” quilt, I feel like this one took me awhile. The quilt is assembled row by row, rather than block by block, so maybe that’s why it feels like it takes quite awhile. I also worked on various stages of this quilt while starting and completing a bunch of other projects, so maybe it just seemed like this one took forever, when in reality, I only worked on bits and pieces here and there.

That being said, this pattern is more of a “commitment” pattern than a quick “weekend” pattern.

Would I make this pattern again?: Probably some day, but not any time soon. I absolutely adore the way this quilt turned out and I love the Martinique line, but I’m not in any hurry to do it again (at least right now).

Schibbles is (finally) finished!!

It's finally finished!  I'm so excited to share my submission for the Schnibbles contest.  (Better pictures are coming, when I can get home and get them off my camera!  For now, iPhone pics will have to do).  I had a hard time naming my finished project -- I think because I was trying too hard to play off of Carrie's pattern name, "X-Rated."  I finally settled on "Incognito," because the embroidered squares are hiding out, trying to blend in.

I haven't used a pattern to make a quilt in quite a long time, but as this quilt was for a contest and required use of a pattern included in the book, I thought I'd share my review with you.

Pattern:
"X-Rated" in Schnibbles Times Two, by Carrie Nelson, of Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.

Quality of Pattern:

As with all of her other patterns I've come across, Carrie, does a fantastic job.  Her directions are clear and concise without being overly complicated.  Her assembly diagrams are also great -- I was comfortable following her cutting directions and then just assembling based on the diagrams alone.

Difficutly level:
I would rate this pattern Advanced Beginner to Early Intermediate.  I wouldn't recommend it to beginning quilters (at least not as their first quilt), especially as there are lots of tiny corners that need to meet perfectly, but it's great for someone who has at least a little bit of experience under their belts.

One of the things that made this pattern a little more forgiving is that Carrie uses over-sized setting and corner triangles that are trimmed down to size before the borders are attached.  For those of us not blessed with perfect triangle assembly (ME!), this is a great way to achieve a perfect look, without actually having to achieve perfection while piecing!

Adaptability:
Because this quilt was made up of smaller, repetative blocks, it was easy to change the size of the body of the quilt.  While the pattern gave directions for a 6x6 block layout, I expanded it to a 7x7 block layout to accomodate my design ideas.

The major change I made to this pattern was that I replaced 9 of the fabric "X" blocks with an embroidered "X" block (if you remember, this was the result of a sleepless night of brainstorming following an embroidery class at the quilt shop hosting the Schnibbles contest).  I'm super pleased with the way it turned out. 

Unfortunately, I made a rookie mistake and didn't lay out my embroidered squares and my fabric squares before I started embroidering ... if I had, I would have realized BEFORE I EMBROIDERED HALF OF THEM that I had traced the "X's" at the wrong angle on my background squares.  Dumb mistake - I really know better, but I have big plans (for my hubby) to build a design wall soon, and then I'll have no excuses for no laying everything out.

Speed:
I love this pattern, but it's not one that you could throw together in a weekend.  With the embroidery (and re-embroidery), it took me the better part of a month to have it completely finished, although, to be fair, I mainly worked on during weekday evenings, and was working on finishing another quilt and pattern at the same time.  I'm super happy with the finished project, but I feel like it took me FOREVER to finish.

Would I make this pattern again?

Maybe.  If I were to make it again, it wouldn't be for quite awhile -- just because the first one took me so long to finish.  I would probably skip the embroidery part next time around, too.  I am definitely planning on hanging on to this one, though.




Don't forget!  The potholder giveaway is going on through Friday, August 6th!  Check it out here!  Giveaway is now closed!