Talking Points in the Reclaimed West

We are please to be part of the Timeless Treasures Blog Tour which runs all this week. Contest details and list of other participants can be found at the end of this blog entry. Timeless Treasures is celebrating the release of Judy & Judel Niemeyer's first-ever fabric line, The Reclaimed West. Checkout the whole collection and other examples of designs.

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So here is the start of our design using 12 of the Reclaimed West Fabrics. 
A - JN-C2911-Rust, 1/3 yard
B - JN-C2915-Linen, 2/3 yard
C - JN-C2910-Brown, 5 yds, incl back & binding
D - JN-C2909-Ivory, 1 yard
E - JN-C2907-Yellow, 1 yard
F - JN-C2909-Ecru, 1-1/4 yards
G - JN-C2906-Sepia, 1-1/4 yards
H - JN-C2904-Khaki, 1 yard
I - JN-C2906-Charcoal, 1 yard
J - JN-C2904-Almond, 2/3 yard
L - JN-C2901-Red, 2-1/3 yds, incl border bkgd
L - JN-C2899-Beige, 1/3 yard

Star Burst Layout, 54 x 72

We have recently released the Talking Points Ruler Set which will be needed to create our project.

The Ruler kit includes both the basic and border rulers, cutting templates printed onto heavy-duty interfacing and an 8 page design guide.

Use the Talking Points ruler to create a simple 8 inch block (finished size). I chose to alternate the colors - light, then dark, light, then dark etc. There is a very subtle difference between some of the beige colors. This shows nicely when the blocks are assembled. 

Repeat this 48 times, rotating the layout to create the star burst effect.

In addition to the main blocks there are 28 border pieces (finished size 4 x 8 inches). To give the effect of the points bending back, the mirror of the border block is used for 24 pieces. The points on the border correspond to the fabric on the outside edge of the blocks. This will result in 4 different versions of the border.
The corner blocks are a simple 4" square of the background fabric.

The ruler is an 8" square plus 1/4" seam allowance on all sides. Lines zigzag at 2" increments creating odd shaped wedges. There are a total of 12 pieces labelled 1 through 12.
1 and 12 are the same size, 2 and 11 etc for a total of 6 different sized pieces (2 of each). Pieces 1 and 12 are triangles cut from 3" squares. The other pieces are cut using supplied templates.

The rulers have holes at each point. You will be marking your sewing line points through these holes as you place your assembly right side up under the ruler with each step.

The Ruler can be flipped to create a mirror version.

Tools you will need:

• Side table for cutting and pressing
• Cutting/pressing mat
• Mini iron and rotary cutter
• transparent ruler with 1/4" line
• Marking pencils and pens
• Pencil sharpener
• Clips to hold pieces for each block set

Layout your fabric in order of A through L. Cut 48 triangles from 3" squares for pieces A and L.

Cut apart the template pieces on the printed solid lines and use each to cut 48 pieces of fabrics B through K. Remember the second and second to last are the same size, third and third to last are also the same. That is why there are only 5 cutting templates for the basic block. See the labels on each template. 

Stack your fabric and cut at least 8 layers at the same time. The template material won't slip - simply use a straight edge aligned slightly over the edge to avoid cutting into the template and slice with a rotary cutter.

OOPS!!
At this point I realized that the Reclaimed West Fabric is not a batik (of course I already knew this but hadn't thought of the impact on my design). Since I stacked the fabric folded when cutting, I had mirror versions of the pieces. This means I was unable to do 48 blocks the same, I needed to do half using the mirror and half regular. Not a problem, it just created a different layout as you can see here. This layout is called Cat's Eye.

I decided that I didn't want a dark color on the outside edge so I swapped the red Fabric A to the beige Fabric L for 6 of the regular blocks and 6 of the mirror blocks. 

Now I had two sets of colors, 24 of each piece for regular blocks and 24 of each for the mirror version.

I gathered one piece of each size, in order and clipped them together. Once all the pieces are assembled and clipped I was ready to make the first block. My planning (and thinking) is finished, this is production time.

The slides that follow show all the steps in creating a finished block. For the first six pieces, place each new piece under the ruler to check for size and position. Mark points for the line you will be sewing through the holes and trim anything more than 1/4". This is because the first six pieces grow the block wider with each piece. If your edge is too narrow you might not have enough fabric at the seam allowance sides of the block.

After the half point has been reach, the pieces get progressively narrower - the issue of not enough fabric at the sides is no longer a problem.

Slides are better to review than a video - you can pause at any point, move forward or backward at your own speed and hopefully get a complete sense of how to use the Talking Points Ruler set.

So here is a finished block

...and actual progress so far. The fabric was here when we returned from Houston Nov 5 but a retreat Nov 7 to 9 and a wedding out of town Nov 11 to 13 has prevented me from finishing the project. So far I love, love, love the fabric (did I say how much I love it?). Check back in a week or so to see the finished quilt.

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Enter the Timeless Treasures contest at SewTimeless starting Nov 17 – it will be open for entries until Monday Nov 24 at noon. THREE WINNERS will be selected and each will receive: 

• one fat eighth bundle of the entire Reclaimed West collection (24 pcs), 
• one 52-pc charm pack of the Reclaimed West collection, 
• one Braided Table Runner pattern by Quiltworx/Judy Niemeyer, 
• one Geese in the West pattern by Cindi McCracken, 
• one Reclaimed West bookmark & bag tag set from Quilt Dots, 
• one spool of coordinating thread from the Reclaimed West designer thread set available from Aurifil. Photos of the prizes are available here.
  

List of other Blog Participants:

17-Nov  Queenie Quilts
17-Nov  Compass Point Quilts
18-Nov  HollyDee Quilts
18-Nov  Totes by Sandy
18-Nov  Just Stitchin with Deborah
19-Nov  Wish Upon A Quilt
19-Nov  Pine Needles Quilt & Sew
19-Nov  Stacey in Stitches
20-Nov  Moose on the Porch Quilts
20-Nov  Jennifer Eubank
20-Nov  Crafty Threads
20-Nov  Prairie Sky Quilts
21-Nov  Back Door Quilt Shoppe
21-Nov  Canton Village Quilt Works
21-Nov  Osie Lebowitz