Quilt Obsessed

Once I get started on a project, it's pretty difficult for me to stop. Last night was no exception. I didn't actually get time to work on my quilt until nearly midnight. I tried to go to bed; I really did. Sleep was not happening for me. So, I got back up and finished this.

I fixed everything I wanted to and made a new center block. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Now, I have to decide how to quilt it. This one is very small; I could probably do it myself.

My original goal was to have this pieced by Valentine's Day; I made it.

Quick Progress

This quilt looked pretty complicated in the picture, but the individual hex "blocks" went together pretty quickly. I actually had fun. It was a bit like building a puzzle.

I went through and cut all the pieces at once.

Then I would lay out the individual hexes based on the instructions.

 Then I would slowly go through and build the pieces.

 You needed to build the pieces so you ended up with straight seam lines.

Last hex block finished!

I debated just sewing the thing together and being done, but I think I'll go ahead and try and make a new center block with all the points aligned properly . . . tomorrow.

Constant-Width Potholders

Sharon decided to make some new potholders—our old, dead potholders are pretty scuzzy looking. She was planning to make boring, square potholders—then Jeff intervened.

He decided it would be cool to make Reuleux triangle-shaped potholders. These are constant width, which seems like a nice feature, but the points give a nice place for the thumb, with the opposite side flatter for the fingers.

Sharon had to add extra lines beyond the basic triangle because there wasn't enough lines to properly hold the layers together.

Things were going well until she reached the last step—applying the bias tape edging. She encountered a bias tape failure because she had lazily cut the bias tape not-on-the-bias and it really wasn't making the corners. She's going to have to go back and rip off the linen, and cut some new fabric on the bias.

Finally, the next day they are finished with true bias tape, made with just one seam. The points are sometimes still a little wonky due to the tight turn, but they're much better!

Here is the new potholder in action...

Quilted Proof of Pythagorean Theorem

Jeff designed a pieced pillow cover and  Sharon sewed it up this morning. For any math buffs out there, this visually demonstrates the Pythagorean theorem. I.e., the large square is on the hypotenuse of the right triangles (which are all the same shape and size), and the other two squares are on the two legs. A little thought shows that the sum of the squares of the legs have the same area as the square of the hypotenuse. There are 96 other proofs here.

He decided to use the same fabrics, so it would look more coordinated when both pillows are sitting on the couch together.

Fractal Quilt Finished!

Last night I finally finished binding Jeff's Fractal Quilt! Yah!! Now my queue of incomplete quilts is done, so I can start a new one if I want. Somewhere along the line, I decided I didn't want to start a new quilt until I had finished all the in-process quilts.

Now that I have, I am free to go on to my next project. Now I just need to decide what it is; maybe the library Roman shades. I could probably get them done in a week or so once I figure out the pattern.

Jeff's Fractal Quilt Nearly Done

My friend, Karen, in Washington has nearly finished machine quilting Jeff's Fractal Quilt. I'm very excited to get it back soon!

She quilted it with the mathematical Moore Curve, like shown here.

Thanks Karen, it looks great!



Here is a picture she posted on Facebook showing her progress:Here is a picture of the full quilt, before I sent it off to Karen for quilting.Earlier this week I finished hand sewing the binding on the second of the kids' quilts. Two down, one to go. I'll post pictures once I can find a place to lay them out. There isn't much space here, but we might be able to hang them for photos.

Fractal Quilt Done!

This time for sure! It's never a good sign when you have spare pieces leftover at the end. =)
Jeff made some changes in the original design and not all the edits were made correctly to the spreadsheet, so I had to rip out a couple pieces and replace them with the right bit. Now it's all fixed up and ready for machine quilting!

Fibonacci fractal quilt design

Jeff spent the afternoon designing a quilt based on Fibonacci numbers used to make a fractal design (with a smidgen of artistic embellishment). The boundary of the yellow has dimension
s=1.83157... = log(sqrt(2)-1) / log((1+sqrt(5))/2)
At least in the pure form of the fractal.

Sharon broke down and ordered fabric for this one; she wanted to use batik fabrics.

Jeff is still tweaking some of the details.

Update: For an extra-geeky view of the fractal inspiring this, check out Jeff's blog entry.

J