Bow Ties

It is with great relief that I pronounce my bow tie quilt completed. Begun over two years ago as part of the 100 Day Summer Sewalong, it is hand-pieced, hand-quilted and fully hand-bound. Ever since I learned my maternal grandma made bow tie quilts, I knew I needed to try my hand at one too. And since back in the 1940s or so, she most likely stitched hers by hand, so did I.

It was in May 2021 that I prepped bow tie blocks to hand-piece. It's been so long, I had forgotten I had used a tutorial by Wynn Tan of Zakka Art to cut out the blocks. For background, I used Kona Enchanted, the 2020 Kona Color of the Year. And for the bow ties, I used a custom 6" charm pack I'd purchased from Katie Pedersen @sewkatiedid years ago....a mix of wonderfully varied purple prints that played off the Enchanted nicely. That only got me so far though, so I incorporated a Social by Melody Miller charm pack and some scraps to bring me to 100 unique fabrics. There are a few from the Social charm pack that are the same pattern but different colorways, and I think that worked out ok. I began piecing with Aurifil 50wt, but soon switched to Aurifil 28wt, and it worked great. [ETA: looking back, I realized I began piecing with 50wt, then 40wt, finally realizing that 28wt would be a better choice.]

The quilt's backing is made simply from lengths of Kona Enchanted. I just didn't feel like I needed to deal with hand-piecing a complex back for this one. And I switched up from my normal batt, Warm & White, and purchased a throw-size of Quilter's Dream Request batting that I knew would be great for hand-quilting. And for that stitching, I chose Aurifil 12wt 4093 [Jade], which worked beautifully.

Probably the most tedious of all the hand-stitching was sewing the binding onto the front of the quilt. But once that was done, I was able to stitch the binding to the back in just a couple of evenings.

The quilt finished at 54" square, and is soft and cozy. 

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Some project history....

5/18/21 - 100 Day Sewalong Prep

6/30/21 - 100 Day Summer Sewalong :: Day 30

7/20/21 - 100 Day Summer Sewalong :: Day 50

8/20/21 - 100 Day Summer Sewalong :: Day 80

7/25/22 - Aurifil Artisan Challenge :: On the Go

11/14/22 - Bow Tie Progress

6/28/23 - 2023 Summer Sewalong

#aqtbowtiequilt

Bow Tie Progress

It was in May 2021 that I prepped bow tie blocks to hand-piece during the 100 Day Summer Sewalong. If I remember correctly, I was able to make 100 blocks over the summer, and then promptly set the project aside.

I picked it up again this July for the Aurifil Artisan Challenge, and I focused on it in between a variety of other handwork projects. I wish I could say it was my favorite thing to stitch on, but that wasn't always the case. 

The blocks, yes, were all hand-pieced. But so were the rows and the sashing....

And at long last, I have a quilt top!! It measures about 53" square, and I was beginning to doubt I'd ever see this day.

I've ordered a 60" square throw-size of Quilter's Dream Request batting, and need to piece a backing. Then I hope to be hand-quilting it over the winter months. Not quite sure which thread or design I'll be using yet, but I'm definitely happy to be inching this quilt towards completion.

Bowtie

Bowtie quilts just draw me in lately, basically since I learned that my maternal grandma, Vesta, used to make them years ago. So when Cheryl/Meadow Mist Designs asked if I'd like to participate in the blog hop for her new book, "Just One Charm Pack Quilts," I chose to make the bowtie variation.

When Cheryl first told me about her book, I thought it was a novel idea, as most of us have those random charm packs stashed away. But I didn't even think of the fact that using a charm pack, besides adding some real nice fabric variety to the quilt, would make it quick and easy to sew up.

As I rummaged around in my stash seeing what my charm pack options were, I came across one made of solids, which isn't the norm, at least from my experience. All the ones I had ever used were prints, and I thought using the solid one might be a nice option, showing off the versatility of Cheryl's quilt designs. The charm pack I ended up using was "Blues" by American Made Brand (SQ0118), with a really fun blue/green ombre among its squares.

For background, I started with Kona White, but in alternating sections also used Moon and Stars in white from Andover Fabrics. That was just a fun design choice since it went so well with the Kona Lighthouse I chose for the "Irish units," plus it also was a good fit for the quilt's eventual recipient. Then it was an obvious choice to use Moon and Stars in gray for both the quilt's backing and binding.

It's quilted with a simple diagonal grid which I think accents the design nicely, while keeping the quilt  comfy cozy.

"Bowtie" finished at 40.5" x 48", a generously-sized baby quilt. And I can honestly say that it was a really enjoyable one to sew. In addition to the bowtie-like blocks, I really liked that they were combined with Irish chain diagonal rows. The ombre added a really fun touch, but I'm confident the design would be equally charming no matter what charm pack was used. 

So I'm fortunate to be one of the first stops on Cheryl's book hop for her new book. Follow Cheryl on Instagram, and her blog, Meadow Mist Designs, to see more designs from the book. She'll be featuring them throughout the hop, which goes through July 29. 

100 Day Summer Sewalong :: Day 30

Things are plugging right along in the 100 Day Summer Sewalong! I'm thoroughly enjoying piecing my bow tie blocks by hand, and I'll confess, neither size takes me that long. What I'm especially appreciating is that none of my print fabrics are exactly the same - a few of the same design, but a different colorway - so that has kept things interesting.

My background fabric, Kona Enchanted, is a little tricky to photograph sometimes, but the first and third photos here show it most true. It is definitely more green than blue. 

So it's been pretty random whether I stitch a small block (4.5" unfinished) or a larger one (5.5" unfinished) on any particular day - just whatever strikes my fancy when I sit down to stitch. At any rate, it's going good, and it's hard to believe I'm nearly one-third done with my 100 blocks!

#100daysummersewalong

100 Day Summer Sewalong :: Day 10

Well the 100 Day Summer Sewalong is underway and it's time to report in! Not very many days into the sewalong, I realized that the thread I'd intended to use for piecing my blocks was a better choice for hand-quilting than hand-piecing. I don't know what I was thinking. It was working, but thicker than needed, so I've switched to Aurifil 28wt, which feels much better.

Also, in my prep post, I said I would be making two sizes of blocks, 2.5" and 3", where in reality, those were the sizes of pieces I prepped. The actual block sizes, once pieced, are 4.5" and 5.5", pretty good sized, I think. I've been randomly choosing which block size to sew each day, depending on what else is going on. The variety of printed fabrics definitely keeps things interesting!

#100daysummersewalong

Bow Ties No. 1

Finally! After watching lots of wonderful 'black & white + one' quilts pop up on Instagram, I was able to clear the schedule for my own participation in the Black and White Challenge with the Quilt Improv Studio. The guidelines are pretty simple, and the time-frame generous, quilts not being 'due' until May 16. First up was sharing your fabric. My 'plus one' to add to my black and white was Kona Pickle.

Random note: several weeks ago, I found out that unbeknownst to me, my grandma made bow tie quilts back in the day. I've been itching to dabble with the bow tie block ever since, and the challenge felt like a good time. I had in mind how I might make them improvisationally, but then browsing through Gwen Marston's Liberated Quiltmaking, I saw she had included a liberated bow tie block, so that sealed the deal. I set in making blocks out of 2.5" squares of all three colors.

Choosing a layout for my blocks required some design wall play. Alot of the more traditional layouts would call for more of a 'background' than I was interested in. Luckily, I tried arranging them in such a way that I only needed setting triangles, and making those black let the whole design float in a way that appealed to me. Plus I really like the secondary designs that were created, though I didn't over-think their placement as much as maybe I could have.

At any rate, on to quilting! I was able to find a backing in stash that in my mind, 'fit,' and not just in palette. Bow ties on the front; martini olives on the back. What's not to love? Remember Midwest Modern by Amy Butler? Well this is Martini in Mustard. Considering this was one of my most cherished old favorites, I hesitated only slightly before cutting it to size. I have a couple of large-ish scraps, so hopefully they can find their way into another project soon.

For quilting, I revisited an oldie but goodie from the AQS blog: 25 Nine Patch Quilting Designs. It apparently doesn't have a name, but it's a combination of angled lines, which I stitched with my walking foot using black thread.

I gotta say, black solid fabric really attracts the lint! Even after 'cleaning' it several times with my lint-roller, it still felt messy. I finally went ahead and threw it in the wash. Not sure that even helped much, but it did add the expected crinkle.

Finishing at 26" x 26", this was an enjoyable first go at those bow ties, and I expect I'll explore with them again.

#quiltimprovstudio #improvblackandwhite