Whirligiggles Completion

In my previous post on 3/19/20 I explained how long this quilt, Whirligiggles, has been in the making – four years and fourteen posts. This post is number 14. The post for 2/22/17 explains my name choice as follows:

The grey and white neutral pinwheels make me think of a whirligig so the term is appropriate. But why the giggles? The brightly colored stripes, checks, swirls, polka dots, and squiggles fabrics that I chose for the star hexagons are frivolous enough they make me giggle. Hence Whirligiggles.

Now that it is finally completed and ready for deployment in my living room I truly can giggle. For a while there I recall I was cussing more than giggling. Being restricted to home because of social distancing due to the coronavirus was the final incentive. I am fortunate to not be ill. It took me a couple days to make the grosgrain labels and put on the two-tone ¼" thin binding. Here is a sneak peak at one corner of the completed quilt and what follows is my process of the final few steps I went through to get to the finish line.

At first I could not find the right color grosgrain ribbon in my stash for the name and date labels which were to go on the grey backing of the quilt, yet I was convinced that I must have basic white somewhere. My grosgrain ribbon stash was scattered in several containers and not wound neatly so I took the time to consolidate and organize it all. Guess what I found? I uncovered a piece of white grosgrain ribbon long enough for two labels, with extra inches for a spare which I goofed and cut too short! As a bonus I now have nice tidy ribbon selection. Small lengths are coiled and secured with scotch tape then gathered in the ziplock bag that will go in one of the train cases. I now have all my quilt label options gathered together and separated from the narrow grosgrain ribbons I use for Christmas ornament hanging loops. Cleaning up messes previous ignored or put off is one of the perks of staying at home more. However, just because I am home more does not mean I am less distracted from the project at hand but hey, the side effects are a plus.

Here are the labels before being secured under the binding. The placement of these labels deviates from my norm since this quilt has two zigzag edges and no right angle corners to place the label. I spanned one of the points at either end of the bottom zigzag edge for each label. 

Since Whirligiggles has no sashing border, I needed a narrow binding to cover only the edge seam allowances and avoid chopping off the points of pinwheels and stars. Also, since the perimeter of this quilt was over 7½ yards, I did not want to stitch the binding to the back side by hand. I used Susie's Magic Binding approach – so I could machine stitch in the ditch of the lime green flange – changing the dimensions to be narrower. My calculations showed that I needed to cut the dark blue 1" wide and the lime green 1¼" wide so when joined along their length with a ¼" seam they would result in a 1¾" wide strip. For French double thickness ¼" binding, this calculation checks: 6 x ¼" binding + 2 x ⅛" flange strip.  To be certain that theory worked in practice, I sewed a small section along a practice sandwich. It worked. Using a stitch in the ditch specialty pressure foot also helped immensely to keep me in that groove between the lime green and dark blue.

The labels once attached and captured beneath the binding look like this. The two corners of the quilt are folded back to be next to each other in the photo so I can show both labels at the same time and the backing fabric. It was challenging for me with the narrow binding width and the 60° in-and-out angles. The non-right angles were a new skill for me but I just took my time attaching that skinny binding, taking frequent breaks, using an awl to hold the corner folds in place and inching along. I did not succeed 100% at keeping on lime green flange of the binding, but I would still give myself a grade of A.

A bound zigzag edge and a bound straight edge of the quilt are shown in the next two photos.

My husband is holding Whirligiggles outdoors in our back yard, showing both the front and the back. The finished dimensions are 74" tall by 56" wide. I am fortunate my husband is over 6 ft tall and has a wide arm span.

Here are closeups of the front and the back.

Finally! Whirligiggles is on the wing chair in my living room. I am linking up to Cooking Up Quilts's Main Crush Monday #169 to share my finish.

White-on-grey & Grey-on-white

My first post on this quilt, working name presently Whirligiggles, was 1/23/16 where I began it in a class taught by Sandy Klop. A single triangle piece and Y-seams make up a hexagon and secondary star pattern by judicious color placement. The subjects of posts dated 1/27/16, 2/17/16, 2/15/17, 2/22/17, 2/28/17, 3/7/17, and 11/23/17 were assembly, color arranging, and prep for FMQ. My most recent posts were on 8/23/19, 9/5/19, 9/8/19, and 9/9/19 in which I discussed FMQ of the red/blue/green star blocks. The white and grey hexagons still needed FMQ and so I have resurrected this quilt again six months later. The white/grey FMQ is th topic of this post. I am bound and determined to finish Whirligiggles in 2020. Some projects hang around so long that their appeal fades. Twelve posts on one quilt - so far- is excessive, even for me. (This post is number thirteen.) Initial enthusiasm has given way to the irked goal of just finishing the @#$%^ thing.

From the previous photo I counted sixteen full-whirligigs in the central area and four ⅔-whirligigs on the top and bottom edges; half have gray blades with a white background and half have white blades with a gray background. I contemplated for quite a while on the FMQ pattern. My goal was to project a sense of rotation and to try to avoid stitching in the lumpy intersection of many seams. My points from piecing met precisely but no matter how much attention I paid to pressing direction, or how hard I steamed them, I could not flatten those bumps. I printed photos of typical hexagons and slid them in plastic page protectors. Using dry erase markers I tried out different patterns. This first pair did, to a small degree, convey rotation like air streams flowing from the rear edges of the blades. The one on the left seemed too angular but I did like the small loops within the gray blades. The one on the right had more rounded shapes but seemed very busy. If that was air flow at the pointed rear edge of the blades, it was extremely turbulent.

In the next pair, I kept with softer, less angular shapes. On the left I tried out arches or single bracket type loops in the background and a few spirals or loops in the blades themselves. It did not appeal. On the right I tried parallel lines or lazy-L loops in the blades and single bracket type loops in the background. I liked the loop combination.

I then laid the sheet protector over a full size block and practiced the pattern. I was comfortable with lazy-L loops, but those bracket-type loops were difficult for me to execute. I decided that they were a variation of my own that I would refer to as lopsided loops and convince myself they were "organic" and "endearing". In a matching thread color their imperfect design feature would not be so noticeable. A rule of thumb I had heard was that the areas of the quilt intended to be emphasized and stand out should be quilted less densely and those intended to recede, like a background for example, should be quilted more densely. That was not the case in the patterns I chose. It was actually the opposite of that which would cause the blades to be dominant. But I attempted to compensate with color.

I used contrasting grey thread on the white bladed hexagons. It was prominent on the white blades and blended into the gray of the background. That is a good thing since my lopsided loops are not too skillfully implemented. Maybe I will get better by the reverse colored hexagons.  This photo is of one of the white-bladed ⅔-whirligigs, still under the foot of my Sweet Sixteen Handi Quilter.

On the grey blades with white background I used white thread. The white does not stand out as much on the grey blades which is unfortunate, especially since I thought I did a good job with those lazy-L loops. My lopsided loops on the white background, which I thought would blend in, stand out more than the Lazy-L loops in the blades. I kept trying to find registration points on which I could focus to orient and size the loops. I did improve with practice but not to the extent I would have liked. I worked around the whirligig in a clockwise fashion FMQing a blade triangle and then FMQing two background triangles.

The two hexagon variations are shown in the next photo. Notice one spins clockwise and the other spins counter clockwise. I found I could quilt the lazy-L loops in either direction with equal dexterity but one direction of the lopsided loops was usually more lopsided in my execution. Nothing much shows up on grey. That should be my takeaway from this quilt. I should make all future quilts in grey and shades of grey since that way I do not need to fret over my invisible FMQ patterns.

The title of this post is White-on-grey & Grey-on-white. The American English spelling is grey. The British English spelling is grey. Both are correct but for some reason the grey spelling looks better to me and it is what flows naturally off my American fingertips as I type. The post title reminded me of a joke.

An adventurer was out in the jungle when he came upon Tarzan. He was painting white stripes on black zebras and black stripes on white zebras. Although curious, the explorer returned home. A year later he came back. Again he finds Tarzan in the jungle. He’s painting white stripes on black zebras and black stripes on white zebras. Every year the explorer returns and every year it is the same scene. Finally he grabs Tarzan and says: “every time I come here you are painting white stripes on black zebras, black stripes on white zebras...What does it mean???”
“Well,” he said “Tarzan stripes forever.” 🇺🇸

The next photo shows my FMQ on the white/grey hexagons and my FMQ on the red/blue/green stars. Hardly shows up, right? I certainly do need to stop agonizing so much over this FMQ stuff since its visibility, or lack thereof, is hardly worth the worry. FMQ is finished. Yay! Next step is my label and binding. Ah, yes... yet another post. Maybe number fourteen will be my final.

The Blues Are Gone!

I finished the last of the blue thread FMQ portion on my Whirligiggles quilt today. Two previous posts tell of my earlier FMQ decisions and challenges. For the red and green FMQ see post dated 9/5/19 and for the other part of the blue FMQ see post dated 9/8/19. An August post dated 8/23/19 describes my pattern deciding process.

This session filled in the straight edge inserts and the bottom edge zig-zag "bowties". The straight edge inserts I did with three lobes, the base where they join and originate being truncated.

Allowing the base of the lobes to occur off the edge of the quilt allows this inserts pattern to echo the size and shape of the lobes within the point of a large outer star it touches. The blue lobes at the bottom are from an edge insert. The green lobes at the top are from one point of a full star.

I did the bowties at the bottom zigzag edge the same way I did the green threaded bowties at the upper zigzag edge – two lobes only and some lazy loops in one third of the triad. The next photo is of a corner bowtie.

The blues are gone! I will do a few smaller projects while I ponder what pattern to use within the white and gray hexagons, Should I use white on white and gray on gray or vice versa to contrast the FMQ stitches? Hmmm.

FMQing Blues

I'd finished the red and green FMQ on the primary colored large stars of my Whirligiggles quilt  (post dated 9/5/19) and the third bold color left to do was the royal blue. I would follow the same pattern I had on the red and green threaded ones. The blue star was central. I'd left it until last because my FMQ gets better with more muscle memory so I'd started nearer the edges.

I started out great. Here is the back of the first point of the six pointed star. I work my way clockwise around the six outer points and inner points. The three lobes came out pretty smooth and my lazy loops within the half of the inner points behaved themselves... that is until where the point of the seam ripper is showing for reference. My machine started making a different sound but everything looked fine on the front so I forged on. I remembered though that I need to listen as well as look. On closer inspection the top stitching line seemed just a tiny bit wobbly so reluctantly I stopped and removed the quilt in order to look at the back side.  This star I was stitching was in the center so removing it was non-trivial.

Yee gads! There most definitely was a problem. All those loops of blue thread on the back side in the second and third lobes (counter clockwise from a back view) would require removal! Aargh!  More picking out! Again!

It had started in the lazy loops of the first star point when I first heard the sound change. 

I did not know the source so I did an entire lint reconnaissance mission, checked my tension and proper threading path, made sure the bobbin was threaded correctly and had no lint lodged under the leaf spring, and did a trial sample. Never did find out the cause. Perhaps I bumped the tension dial, loosening the top blue thread,  when maneuvering the quilt? Whatever it was, it was fixed. Now to deal with the  mess on the back. At least this loopy stuff would be easier to remove, I thought. Not really. Those loops got tangled within themselves and so pulling one thread did not quite do it. Every time I got a long thread to release I gave a little cheer.

  

I wound up clipping off the loops with curved scissors and picking out the remnants with tweezers. These were the tools of my trade. Snipping and extracting made a mess, so I wound up using sticky tape to clear up the shreds so I could see what I was doing and what I had already done.

All the blue fuzzies reminded me of a magnetic hair game I had as a child called Wooly Willy. See the resemblance?

After about an hour or so of picking (in two sessions – I needed a break) I was ready to try to FMQ again. This well confined fiasco taught me a couple things. I will alway listen to my machine as well as just looking. Also, I am typically afraid of FMQing a quilt for fear of ruining it. I have learned that just about anything can be picked out. It builds patience and leads to meditation time. The quilt is not ruined. But I think it may be bordering on more time to quilt than it did to piece! My friend dubbed it my "quilt of woe".

I finally succeeded in putting in that central blue star. Here is what it looks like. The tri-lobes show up in the outer points as do the arcs in the red inner point halves. Those lazy loops in blues on blue do not. I will need to photograph the finished quilt with light at an angle to show up the texture. I still have the edge inserts to FMQ in blue but this was enough for one day. All's well that ends well.

It is reputed that social media can be depressing because people post only positive events and folks who read them can feel their life is inferior. I am not guilty of that sin. I have shared this process so some of you out there do not feel alone. I just had an awful thought! What if it is just me having these mini-disasters? Nah... can't be...

Green-Red-Blue FMQ

After mulling it over for way too long, I finally decided the FMQ pattern I would use on the primary colored large stars of my Whirligiggles quilt (earlier prepping post dated 11/23/17). The larger exterior points of the star would have three softly curving lobes each. The inner point of the star would have half-points alternating between two arcs or fill-in lazy loops. I numbered the sequence so I would not forget the path for a continuous loop from one star point to the next. Stitching the central large lobe first helped me judge the space best to fill in the two smaller lobes on either side. I established the chant, lobe (1), lobe (2), lobe (3), curve out (4), squiggle in (5), curve out (6), working my way clockwise around the six points.

Then I needed to decide my thread color. Having spent hours upon hours picking out white thread, I was not going to put that back in. I chose gray for the back. I had a light gray and a darker gray. Ideally I would have liked a tone in between these two but decided on the darker one would be satisfactory. The lighter was too close to white and brought back painful-picking memories.

But what color to use for the front? Initially I considered variegated options but there was no red/green/blue combination thread... only red/white/blue (too patriotic) or red/white/green (too Christmasy), or combinations that include orange or yellow or purple (colors not present in top). Also stitching with variegated thread occasionally fades in and out of visibility depending on whether the thread matches or contrasts with the fabric. There are five full stars in the quilt top and two partial stars on the edges with five out of six points. I decided I would use red OR blue OR green thread depending what would look best on that particular star. The central full star would have blue thread and it was surrounded by four stars and two five-sixths stars in either green or red thread. Partial bow-ties of the zig zag border on the bottom would be in blue and partial bow-ties of the zig-zag border on the top would be in green. I drew myself a chart to remember these color choices outlining the secondary pattern of large stars in black and labeling their thread color as R or G or B. The red would be a pure red and the blue would be a royal blue. I decided to start with green since that is near a quilt edge and not smack dab in the middle. My FMQ gets better as I build my muscle memory so I did not want my less practiced patterns to fall in the center. I would do that later when I was better – theoretically speaking.

The green needed to be decided and I had three choices in my thread cache. The top was too olive and muted. The middle was decently bright and pure and a good match with the greens, but the lightest one at the bottom would show up best on the red and blue.

I chose the middle one, now on the right, because when set next to the pure bold red and blue threads it seemed to complete the trio best. The lighter one on the left was a tad too yellow in comparison.

I finally got brave and did my first star. This green threaded one is on the edge with five points instead of six.

Here is a closeup of one point. From left to right, star center, lazy loops in half of the inner star point and three large lobes in the outer star point. The quilting does not jump out; it is subtle. So subtle in fact I wonder why I fussed and agonized so much. Perhaps those three lobes should be echoed for a denser quilting but for now I am going with this design for the other two green stars.

To avoid confusion when I moved on to another star, I marked my thread color choice for each star with green, red, and blue safety pins. It was just coincidence that those colors came in the package.

I'd completed the green thread stars and did the partial fill-in triangles on one end. I did not spend a lot of time figuring out what stitch to do in these two triads that seem to form a bow tie. I repeated lazy loops and formed two lobes instead of three since this was a smaller area. My hand is not as steady as I'd like it to be in these edge areas but it is passing. I hope that galloping horse moves swiftly as it carries its rider past.

Next up is the red-threaded stars. My first one on the edge (partial star) went well and I was in the swing of producing my chosen three lobe pattern and lazy loops. When I unfurled the quilt to take a photo of a completed red-threaded star, I was bummed. Unfortunately, I had caught one corner of the quilt underneath and quilted parts of three lobes through it. Dang! I thought I was being careful but my skill at this FMQ business has lots of room for improvement. Back to picking out – again!

My long-arm Heidi is a sit down Handiquilter Sweet Sixteen where the quilt itself is not mounted on a frame. Here is my set-up. I try to extend my work area with an ironing board and concentrate on one quilt section at a time but, even so, these goofs are possible and do creep in.

Once I removed those stitches that held the folded under corner, I was left with this remainder of the lobes still stitched. I went ahead and removed these lines also, so I could have a continuous stitch when I put the three lobes back in. The faint perforation lines remain from the removed lobes but they were good guides for me. On a positive note, I do like how the red lazy loops show up on the blue with green dots.

I noticed on the back side that Heidi had burped a wad of lint at one point. I am fortunate that Heidi is pretty forgiving. When she occasionally barfs these up, like a cat producing hairballs, it does not throw off her tension. I hear a sound and I am learning to train myself to be more attuned to her language when she talks to me.

 Undaunted – though admittedly slightly discouraged – I resume FMQing the final red thread star. 

Here is the final, full, red-threaded star completed. I know, I know – the fabrics are busy patterns so my stitching barely shows up. The lobes show up and draw the eye outward but the red lazy loops on the red /white pezzy print are kind of lost. But I know they're there.

I have the central blue star and blue edge inserts remaining to FMQ, but I will save them for another day. It is night as you can see though my window. I have my color key taped up where I can see it and to help me keep my "eyes on the prize."