Phoenix Quilt pattern testing

Hello again friends!

I hope your summer is going well and you are able to stay safe, well and sane amidst all the stressful reality we all have around us. I am specially thinking of and sending hugs to all parents with school children, as they face the impossible choices and scary prospective with school start. I am scared for my granddaughters who are just starting their school years and wish there is more I can do to help. Ugh. But as we quilters always do, I am finding my stress relief and peace in my sewing room, among colors and fabric, making something out of fabric. Goodness, I am so, so grateful to be able to do that!! It is a privilege and I don’t ever take it for granted!

Speaking of colors – Phoenix quilt!!

This beautiful pattern by Sharon Holland is now available!!! If you like to have your own, you can purchase it directly from Sharon’s website

It looks so intricate and complex, yet is so easy to do – exactly what you want, right?? It was my privilege to be a part of the group of testers for Sharon – we had fun chatting together, learning from Sharon (yes, she is the best pattern testing hostess!!) and enjoying creating quilts from this beautiful pattern! You simply must go and follow hashtag #phoenixquilt to see amazing diversity in color choices and looks of the same pattern – soooo good!!! You can read all about the pattern and all testers on Sharon’s blog.

So here is the story about my version of Phoenix quilt.

My color inspiration came from few different places – the fact that autumn is approaching always pulls my heart towards the glorious colors of fall and the name of the pattern – Phoenix – and all that it can symbolize. For me personally, at this time, it is the rise and renewal for all of us, from all the fires burning around us. I know we will rise and renew from the ashes of heartache, better and stronger and I let these thoughts carry me while working with these beautiful colors. I picked 9 different Pure Solids from Art Gallery Fabrics and two shades of dark navy for background.

One can do many different color combos in this pattern, even as few as just two, but when pattern testing, it is good to go with same number as written in pattern, just to be able to give as much feedback to the designer, as possible.

Similarly, this pattern uses HSTs (Half-Square Triangles) – we all know there is million different ways to make them, but again, when pattern testing, follow those directions, to be able to give feedback if needed! Sharon used 8-in-1 HSTs method and for this pattern, it works our really well! If you haven’t tired that one, there are many tutorials on the internet – here is just one from the Bloc_loc ruler site (and that ruler would come in VERY handy to trim them all to size!)

I love to chain-stitch everything, so it is no surprise I did it here too – first stitch one side on ALL my square pairs…

…then you just turn the whole “chain” (all squares are connected with stitching!), place it in your lap and feed it into your sewing machine again, to stitch the other side. Then repeat the same on the opposite diagonal!

And here they are – gzillion HSTs, pressed and ready to be trimmed!!

I’m not going to lie, squaring-up 300+ HSTs is not the most fun, but it went fast while sipping morning coffee with my hubby! 🙂 Before I knew it, they were all ready to be stitched into blocks!

Now here is one of the parts my scientific brain really enjoys – making an orderly, systematic process for piecing the block! I use the grid system, and if you have never tried it, here is what I do:

Lay out the block making sure all pieces are in correct spot and orientation. (1). Wehn it is a block with this many pieces (36, to be exact!), I like to divide it in sections – so here I separated it into quadrants (2)

Now I will proceed to piece one quadrant at a time and in order to NOT mess up the orientation and placement of any of the HSTs, here is what I do:

There are three columns of squares here. Flip the MIDDLE column of squares onto the left one, placing them right sides together. The important part here is that you DO NOT lift the squares and handle them too much – just take middle one and flip it over to the left one. Stitch them using chain piecing, from top to bottom. One thing that helps me here not to mess up is that seam I am supposed to stitch is the one closest to my sewing machine/needle. Hope that makes sense to you too? 🙂

Return the stitched “chain” to its place in the block layout and finger-press seams to one side (trust me, for now finger-pressing is enough, you will press it all with an iron later!). I do it so that seams are alternating – in other words, press top one to the right, middle one to the left and bottom one to the right again.

Now you are ready to add pieces in the third column onto the second. You can do this in the exact same was as the first time (just flip over and match raw edges), but this time you will have to pin them in place, as they would fall off when you take it to the sewing machine, and chain-piece again.

What you have now is your block quadrant sewn into a grid (all pieces are connected, since you chain-pieced them!), with all pieces in proper position and orientation – no mistakes are possible any more! YAY!!

Now you just need to sew the rows to each other and the alternating seams will help with everything fitting together – those nested seams are one of my favorite things!!

Pinning while sewing these is completely up to you and your level of comfort – we are all different in that. I generally do not have to pin them – nested seams fit lock into each other and I pay close attention to these seam intersections, so that my points are all sharp:

Once you stitch the remaining seam, your block quadrant is done. At this point you can press all seams nicely with an iron and then go on to repeat this process with three other quadrants of the block. With all of them done – just join them together to complete the block! BE CAREFUL – orientation of these quadrants is very importand for the block to come out exactly as it should be – keep looking at your pattern diagram!

If you have any questions about this method – just ask!! In the comments or via email, I am happy to help!!

After doing this 9 times over (for all nine blocks) – TA-DAH!!

Aren’t these colors just so yummy!? (even though this is a quick photo, with not the best light…). Here it is all pieced!

I took a few more photos of the top, before getting ready for quilting…

Oh and then come some quilting decisions… I know many quilters dread this part, but I really love it! Sometimes it is so very obvious, sometimes it is “just do something quick” and sometimes you doodle first… but whatever way you do it, it is yet another layer of your creative expression – so play, don’t dread it!! 🙂

For me, the fun part also is picking the thread color! In this colorful quilt – so many choices!!

But lets leave all this fun for the next post!!

In the meantime, look for another Newsletter from me soon (have you signed-up yet? Got your free pattern? If not – JUST CLICK ON THE SIGN-UP TAB on the top of the blog!) and stay well and safe!

Love,

Marija

PS – aren’t these flowers beautiful? Coming from my son’t garden, they make me smile even more!