Hobo Quilt update

I get giddy over sampler quilts. Not the kind with a dozen twelve inch blocks -- the kind that represent an insane long term committment. If there's a sampler quilt book, I've either got it or I want it.  Not that I've started any of them yet.

Except for the Hobo Quilt.

This may be the messiest, fiddliest project I've got going. It's a mix of applique and piecing and all of the little pieces are odd sizes and different colors so  I wind up cutting each one individually. I'm working from my stash of thrift store shirts and obsessing over every last fabric choice.

And, as crazy as it makes me, I do love it. I want to make the big version of the quilt, which calls for sixty blocks. I didn't realize until I pulled it out today that I've got almost half of them done. Maybe it's time to make some more.



Judy is planning a UFO Parade on April 15, and I'm pulling my UFOs together for my entry.

Back to the Hobo Quilt

Now that we're back from our latest road trip, which I'll post about tomorrow, it looks like I'm back to the Hobo Quilt blocks. I'm working from a library book which I've returned and checked out and renewed more times than I can count. I'll almost convince myself to buy a copy, then I'll decide that I'm going to have the quilt done soon anyway, so I won't need my own copy...and on it goes.



Because it's so hard to remember which way is up with some of these blocks, I've decided to start sashing them now. The sample quilt in the book has brown sashing, so I bought brown fabric. Brought it home, washed it, put it someplace where my daughter's cat couldn't possibly sleep on it... then couldn't find it when I was ready to to start cutting it up.

Now that I've found my fabric, my blocks, and I had my hands on the book last night, I should really get this sashing done and see if I can make at least a couple more blocks before the book is due back.

Head over to Patchwork Times to see more design walls.

6 more

I've decided that this quilt, even if I don't make any more blocks, completely justifies my shirt stash. And my scraps. I'm including some fabrics in this quilt that I would've sworn I'd never want to use for anything.





Look at this fantastic magnetic bakery over at Ikat Bag! Never mind that I don't have a little enough girl, I kinda want one of these for me.

There's not much time left to enter, but Jennifer is giving away Go! Baby and three dies.

More new-to-me fabric this week, with an explanation that I posted yesterday. A little knitting, no new yarn and no fabric use to report because I've spent all of my sewing time on the hobo blocks.

Weekly Stash Report #16

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 33 3/4 yards
Added this Week: 184 yards
Added Year to Date: 589 yards
Net Used for 2011: - 555.25 yards

Yarn Used this Week: 100 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 3700 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 11000 yards
Net Used for 2011: -7300 yards

See how everyone else is doing over at Patchwork Times

Because I'm stressed enough about the knee surgery I've got scheduled next month, I've decided to stick with the sewing/knitting/whatever that keeps me distracted and not worry too much about how much fabric and yarn goes in and out each week.

I'm having a real love/hate relationship with the Hobo Quilt. The fabric selection stresses me more than anything. I definitely need more drab blacks.

I actually did more blocks than I thought yesterday --



And here's the quilt so far --

explanations

My weekly stash reports almost always claim that there's an explanation for the amount of fabric that keeps following me home. This time, I thought I'd actually explain.



There was an ad on Craig's List:

100 pounds of fabric scraps from quilter's collection, $60 obo

The real ad was slightly more detailed, but not by much. There were no pictures. The only way to contact the seller was by text message. And I'm apparently the only one on the planet who still doesn't know how to text, but I kept thinking about that ad and eventually got motivated enough to figure it out. Got the address, which was a few blocks away from our old house. (The house where I had to check for gang members drinking in the street before going out to buy groceries.) Found another responsible adult to go with me.

I didn't really have high hopes, since one of the text messages said there was no yardage and I was envisioning a hundred pounds of strings and crumbs. But different quilters have different ideas of what a scrap is, and a hundred pounds would be something like four hundred yards...

Do you see that pile of yardage behind my Go Cutter? I can understand that some quilters wouldn't see half yard cuts or fat quarters as yardage, but three and four yard cuts of fabric? Nice, recently manufactured fabric. Even the scraps are big -- lots of wide strips that I was able to run through the cutter with my 2 1/2" square die.

I spent a couple of hours last night, watching a stupid movie on Netflix and sorting through scraps to cut into squares or circles.

There wasn't a hundred pounds, I could tell that just by picking up the boxes myself. One good thing about this weekly stash report is that I'm getting better at looking at a bag or box of fabric and guessing how much is there. I wound up with fifty pounds of fabric, about 200 yards, for $45. Twenty-two cents a yard.

Did I mention that every last bit of it was good 100% cotton?



My goal for last night was to finish five more blocks of the Hobo Quilt. By the time I got through the first two, I was ready to throw in the towel. Many of the online reviews I've read have said that there are problems with measurements for three of the blocks. Nothing I can find actually names those three blocks.

Easy Mark is one that I had trouble with last night. If my math is right, one of those red checked blocks should be 4" long.

My blocks aren't coming out quite right, but I'll adjust it all when I get to the sashing.

I'm not sure if I'm having fun or not at this point -- but I keep making more blocks!

hobo blocks

After I posted about Hobo Quilts Monday night, I had a flash of inspiration. All of those odd bits of shirts that were annoying me becaue they're too small to cut five inch squares for the 10 Minute blocks?

They're perfect for this quilt. Combine them with some really drab ugly cotton prints that I haven't known what to do with, and I think I can pull this off!

Hobo Quilts

I've got a thing for sampler quilts. Not the ones with a handful of twelve inch blocks, the impossible ones with lots of itty bitty blocks. Not that I've started my own yet, I'm just collecting the books. I've got Dear Jane, and the Civil War Diary Quilt, and the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt -- which I would've started right away if the measurements were in the actual book and not on a stupid disk that I lack the enthusiasm to mess with!

Hobo Quilts jumped off the library shelf at me a couple of weeks ago. It was the block on the spine with the appliqued loaf of bread. How could I not want to applique a loaf of bread?



The book sat in our library bag with a bunch of picture books, unopened until last night when I got an email from the library reminding me that it would be due soon. So I cuddled up with the book, reading through the first person narratives and looking at the pictures. And looking at the blocks, thinking "That wouldn't be too hard, would it?"

But I couldn't picture a quilt made with those blocks, not until I got to page 154.



I want this quilt!