The Winding Ways Quilt

Well if you in the Northeast US, then you are just sick of the snow this winter. I actually like winter, I used to ski (hopefully will do again) and enjoy the change of seasons. But my goodness - enough is enough - there is just no where left to put the snow in the driveway!!
As I am writing this post, another 1 - 2 feet is forecast for the Boston Area for Sunday into Tuesday  early. Depends on where you are.
I will leave my RI ocean sanctuary today - Sunday-  to go back to my metro-Boston home- to work from home on yet another snowy Monday. But I am blessed in all this by several things

• I have two homes (many have none)
• I can work from home - and not everyone has that privilege - and it is a privilege. My job lends itself to this structure - I spend my days in spread sheets, with numbers and I have very supportive management.

So - back to quilting! The first of our children's generation on my husband's side is getting married this summer. I think this may open up the flood gates - eek!! This means I have to actually make and FINISH quilts.

I was inspired by this Winding Ways Quilt I am making,  from a similar quilt in the last issue of The Quilt Life Magazine (October 2014). The quilt was Jan Magee's "Rosita Meadows". She made it in Japanese Taupes.  The colors would not work for me - but I loved the design - classic Winding Ways block.

I like the circular movement of the pattern.

As I noted earlier I am trying to become more proficient with my EQ7. It is such a great tool.

So I found the Winding Ways Block in the block library, and set off to design a similar quilt in blues.

I have a TON of blues in my stash, and have also been inspired by the utilization of scraps from Bonnie Hunter's site. - BTW - if you have never gone to her blog - GO THERE. You may not be into scrappy necessarily, but this woman is the most prolific, organized quilter on earth. Check out the link to her blog.

Here is what I came up with

EQ7 Print out of my Winding Ways Quilt &
 the Card With how many of each shape and color I needed

This was the first time I approached a quilt like this. Normally I just follow a written pattern.

In this case I had to figure out how many of each block component I needed in each color

Hence the file card below. EQ will definitely calculate yardage for you, but I was going to be using my Accuquilt GO! Cutter and Winding Ways Block die!!

Accuquilt GO! Winding Ways 8 Inch Die

So I counted the 

• Corners
• Wedges (narrow triangles)
• Triangles (large 4 leaf clover looking patches)

For each of the Dark Blue, Medium Blue, and Neutral. I actually have a tiny bit of light blue - but I will see how this progresses as it goes up on the design wall.

Sorted the stash I had brought to the beach and started cutting!

I then printed out each block type combination from the quilt, and counted how many of each I needed. I am sure people who regularly design quilts do this all the time.

It was really interesting and fun. I feel like I am doing this quilt from start to finish.

So I have not cut all the pieces, but I have started the construction.

Some hurdles - more on that in my next post.

Happy Quilting

Mary

Fudge Recipe and A Quick Project

It not a wonder I don't make progress on UFO's I am soooo easily distracted.  I was reading the blogs on my Google reader (great feature to see all the feeds you follow in one place) and sewnut (Linda) had a picture of a tea bag holder, a travel mug and a coaster she made for a coworker - It was a great quick gift. I needed a grab for a Yankee Swap for tomorrow and said - this is it!!!
Sewnut/Linda provided a link to the directions for the little container for the tea bags. It was actually designed as a thread catcher.
The link to Sewnut/Linda's project is here
The link the directions for the little thread catcher/tea bag basket is here.

I still need to get a nice mug to go with this for the grab, but this worked up very very quickly.
I also looked for a quick method to make flying geese for the coaster and came across the "no waste" method. I have seen this method before but hadn't saved the link - but I had 4 perfect flying geese in about 5 minutes flat. - I only needed three, but I will find something to do with the other one I am sure!

Here are the photo's of my project. The tea basket/thread catcher had a bit of hand sewing in it. I am going to try my next one using nice matching thread and a satin stitch closure - like the timtex bowls.

Fudge Recipe
Since I was in here I figured I get the Fudge Recipe up. This recipe was developed by a Chemist at Dupont and my husband's uncle gave it to me. It works perfectly if you follow the directions exactly. The KEY is calibrating the thermometer. Water should boil at 212 degrees F and if your thermometer reads 212 degrees F in boiling water follow the  directions as printed (stop at 234 degrees F).  If not, make a note of the  temperature on the thermometer when the water boils and ADD 22 degrees to this to get the boiling end point.

Uncle Jim's Fudge
Ingredients                   Normal Batch                  Large Batch
Baking Chocolate             2 oz                                    3 oz
Sugar                               2 Cups                                3 Cups
Corn Syrup                 1  TBLS                              1  1/3 TBLS
Evaporated Milk            2/3 Cup                                1 Cup
Butter                           2 TBLS                               3 TBLS
Boiling Temperature                         234 degrees F    
                        OR      22 Degrees Above the temp of boiling water on your thermometer if not 212
Cooling Temperature                       150 degrees F                                       
Vanilla Extract             1 TBLS                              1  1/3 TBLS


PROCEDURE

1. Melt Chocolate in a two quart pan
2. Add sugar and mix until it is coated with chocolate
3. add syrup and milk -- stir until blended
4. Heat slowly to boiling -- stir to prevent burning
5. Boil slowly and steadily with occasional stirring until the temperature of the mix reaches exactly 234 degrees F ( or 22 degrees above boiling water temp)
6. Remove pan from heat, add butter, and blend for NOT more that ONE minute
7. Cool mixture in air to a temperature of 150 degrees F --DO NOT STIR MIXTURE OR DISTURB IT.
8. Remove thermometer, add vanilla and stir mixture for two minutes at two strokes per second.
9. Pour mixture QUICKLY into a greased pan ( I grease with butter)
10. A normal batch I put in an 8 X 8 pan - the Large batch I put in a 9 1/4 X 6 1/2 X 1 inch pan (Hefty EZ Foil Fudge Pan I get in the supermarket) This fills right to top of the pan.
    

I let the pan completely cool in air, cover with plastic and put in the refrigerator.

Peace

Mary