Pfeffernuese Inspired and Thangles

All done!!! My Pfefferneuse inspired quilt I am calling Cinnamon Triangles.
It is now 56" square and I am very pleased with the adventure and results.
My biggest thanks to Our Bonnie Hunter for this pattern. I loved the units!!

 Monday night was a planning meeting for our guild's next meeting year. Games, exchanges and ideas flowed like lightening! It was a very inspiring meeting. I always seem to leave more anxious to sew than before I came. Yet I do not see how I could love sewing any more than I already do. I am staying up later and later and have the machine humming everyday as it is!!!

We are going to be doing a triangle exchange every month. Inspired by the show where we went and listened to Edtya Sitar. And we all fell in love with her color sense. Her hubby does all the cooking and housework so she can sew. How to get mine to do the same??????
I had three different programs/methods for making these little gems.
(not counting my EZ Angle ruler)

The planning group have each picked a quilt to make to get the juices flowing for the other guild members. We want a lot of participation in this undertaking. Variety makes for a much more interesting quilt!!!
And being the over achiever I am I had to actually start on a quilt using what has yet to be exchanged!!! What's a gal to do?
Why use up those batik 2 1/2" strips to make some triangles with the Thangles method.

Chain piecing is the way to do these! I made 288 units in only one day of sewing.
I only stabbed/impaled myself a few times with pins before I changed the direction of those dangerous points. HA!
And you need to see where you are going. So I advise an open toed foot as opposed to your normal 1/4" foot. You need to see where the sewing line is at all times.

Such a satisfying photo. An endless line of units being fed through the machine.

 And of course I had to cut one to see how it looks.

We are going to use Autumn colors only for the exchange. I am not sure if we are going to ask for batiks only or ask to have a few batiks mixed in with the quilting cottons. They do play well together.
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Pfefferneuse failure!!!!

There are times when the pieces of a planned quilt have a life all their own. And the best laid plans of mice and men  quilters must go with the flow.
I could not use Bonnie Hunter's layout from her newest book entitled String Fling. 


No matter how hard I tried the layout just did not sing to me. DH and I decided on this layout. And of course I now have lots of extra units leftover. There are lots of seams to sew over. I do not think my DSM can handle quilting this. I sure need a long arm quilting machine.

This smaller quilt is a sweet 43" square before the final borders.

Despite failing to make the actual Pfefferneuse quilt designed by Bonnie Hunter, I am very pleased with what I do have done.

And my huge Log Cabin quilt is still in sections. (on the left) I will get to it sometime. I have had a great weekend sewing. I sure lost 4+ days last weekend when we had no power and then doing the throw away of food. GRRRRR! I need to really make a big grocery run now that the power has been restored all around the area. It will take me months to get things built back up again. Sigh!
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Pfefferneuse progress

Now comes the lazy part...removing the papers from the paper foundation pieced string blocks.
It took me only 2 days of sewing to make the neutral string blocks. I already had 100 8 1/2" neutral string blocks made but they did not have the widest strip down the center of the block as Bonnie instructed.
Since I totally love making the string blocks I did a marathon sewing session that lasted for two days. I made a total of 50 just because I like that number. The pattern calls for only 36.

 All my hourglass units are all made too. Once I get the papers off I can begin final assembly!! WHOOHOOO!!!!

 Look at that pile of trimmings!!! I was ruthless and threw the entire pile away.

And see how many strings I still have left?  Even making 50 blocks did not make a dent in that bag!!! The small white container has the larger triangles I used for the two corners on the blocks. I have been sorting my strings. It was a big job at the beginning but now it is so easy. And I truly love being able to just grab a bag in the color I want to work on!!

I had made the brown string blocks in a larger size because I did not know what size Our Bonnie would be using in the Pfefferneuse pattern. I had these trimmings left over from cutting those blocks down to 7 1/2". They look way too useful. I am going to save them as crumbs. I get to have a crumb class with Our Bonnie in September this year. WHOOHOO!!!

One result of having no power for 3 entire days was some organizing that really needed done. I was gathering up scraps to give to a high school friend who teaches sewing to young kids. Since I was lucky enough to be gifted with some scraps from Alaska, I felt I needed to pass it on. I offered my HS friend the same deal. She paid the postage and I gathered "good" scraps for her. I need to go to the PO to get a box. I quickly outgrew the medium size Priority Mail box. But with downtown being without power too I did not even try...
Another result of losing power is a super clean fridge and freezer. I have to look at the good side of the food loss.
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Progress on Pfefferneuse by Bonnie Hunter

Not too many made but boy are they FUN to make!!!

 It is over 100 degrees outside. I love air conditioning!!! Ours is working very hard and at least the humidity is gone from the inside of the house. Since we had to throw out all the freezer contents, I did save the frozen blueberries. I am giving them to the birds yet the squirrels seem to really love their frozen berry treat!
Bess is laying in the bit of sunlight coming through the window. And I am sewing away!!!

 A bit of a longer view of my sewing area.

In anticipation of Bonnie Hunter's newest book I began a bit of pre-cutting. But not knowing the correct size of the patchwork did not stop me. It is easier to cut things down if they are too big. So I did cut into my 2 1/2" strips with the Companion Angle ruler by EZ Wrights. I am just sewing them down one side and then cutting them to the correct 2" size. I am saving the little dog ears in that small glass container. I know...OCD ME. And of course they are coming out sooooo cute!!!
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Happy 4th of July to all of you!