Tag: nearly insane block 2

Nearly Insane…Nearing the Finishing Line…Blocks 1 to 7

An update on my Nearly Insane Quilt, based on a 19th century quilt by Salinda Rupp, has been long overdue. As I have now less than 20 blocks to finish, I’ll start sharing the finished blocks in a series of posts, row by row! The blocks are all set on point, with 7 and 6 blocks in the alternating rows.

The blocks are 6″ square and except for a few, foundation paper pieced by me.  I drafted all the patterns for FPP on the free Quilt Assistant software, based on patterns in Liz Lois’s book, which contains only line drawings of the finished blocks.

Most of the fabric used is Summer Breeze 3  (with a fat quarter bundle of matching solids) by Moda Fabrics, and the Dutch Garden 2 Collection by Boundless Fabric. I also used a couple FQs in blues and greens plus a jelly roll of yellows I had in my stash.

So here comes Row One, with seven blocks!

Nearly Insane Block 1

Number of pieces: 35

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Technique: Foundation paper pieced (FPP)

Nearly Insane Quilt Block 1
Nearly Insane Block 2

Number of pieces: 21

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Technique: English paper pieced (because I did not have a sewing machine at hand when I did this one.

Salinda Rupp Quilt Nearly Insane by patchworkofmylife Block 2
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 2
Nearly Insane Block 3

Number of pieces:  37

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Technique: Foundation Paper Piecing

Nearly Insane Quilt Block 3
Nearly Insane Block 4

Number of pieces: 33

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Technique: Foundation paper pieced (FPP)

Nearly Insane Quilt Block 4
Nearly Insane Block 5

Number of pieces: 40

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Technique: Foundation paper pieced (FPP)

(The blue fabric here is from the Dutch Garden Collection.)

Nearly Insane Quilt Block 5
Nearly Insane Block 6

Number of pieces: 21

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Technique: Foundation paper pieced (FPP)

Nearly Insane Quilt Block 6
Nearly Insane Block 7

Number of pieces: 36

Level of Difficulty: Easy (though did have a number of poiunts to match!)

Technique: Foundation paper pieced (FPP)

Nearly Insane Quilt Block 7

Aren’t they pretty? I am so totally in love with this quilt.

Breaking News!! The Foundation Paper Piecing Block Patterns for this quilt are available for sale on my store!

Nearly Insane Progress

There was finally some progress on my Nearly Insane blocks, thanks to the fact that I was without a sewing machine while visiting my son! I had printed out patterns for the first fifty blocks at home and had the sense to carry them with me along with the Summer Breeze III fabric by Moda that I am using for my quilt. With time on my hands, I sat for several hours and cut out the templates for foundation paper piecing ( hundreds of them!) before it struck me that I couldn’t use them without a sewing machine! Now what?

I could, of course cut out the fabric for the blocks. I had the pieces done for five random blocks, when it finally dawned on me that I could piece the blocks without the machine. English Paper piecing it was to be. But for that, the templates had to be cut again, into individual paper pieces. Not a happy thought, as the average number of pieces in each of the blocks must be around fifty.

It was certainly a tedious job, but I finally had the pieces ready for EPP.

Prepping the pieces for EPP

I started on this particular block, but gave up half way to do a really easy one–Block 2.

But before I show you Block 2, you must see my Block 1, completed on my sewing machine before I went to the US.

Block 1

Isn’t it pretty? I attempted some fussy cutting with this one.

Patchworkofmylife Nearly Insane Quilt Block 1
Block 1 of the Salinda Rupp ( Nearly Insane) Quilt

Vital Stats
Paper foundation pieced
No of pieces: 37
No of templates for fpp: 5
Level of difficulty: Moderate (because of the tiny square in squares in the centre).
Completed in August 2018

Block 2

The white floral fabric isfrom a charm square I had lying around for years!

Patchworkofmylife Nearly Insane Quilt Block 2
Block 2 of the Salinda Rupp quilt was English paper-pieced.

Vital Stats
English paper pieced
No of pieces: 21
Level of difficulty: Real easy–had I foundation paper pieced it!
Completed in November 2018

Block 3

This block was foundation paper pieced it came up quickly!

Patchworkofmylife Nearly Insane Quilt Block 3
Block 3 of the Salina Rupp (Nearly Insane) Quilt

Vital Stats
Foundation paper pieced
No. of pieces: 37
No. of templates for fpp: 9
Level of difficulty: Easy
Completed in March 2019

Block 7

This block had 10 templates, so I would call it moderately difficult! The 3″ centre portion within the yellow strips had to be pieced in six steps (templates)!

Patchworkofmylife Nearly Insane Quilt Block 7
Block 7 of the Salina Rupp (Nearly Insane) Quilt

Vital Stats
Foundation paper pieced
No of pieces: 36
No. of templates for FPP: 10
Level of difficulty: Moderately difficult
Completed in March 2019

Block 9

Here is another block I started while in the US.
The inner 4.5″ portion on this was English paper-pieced, it had 28 pieces!

Patchworkofmylife Nearly Insane Quilt Block 9
Block 9 of the Salina Rupp ( Nearly Insane) Quilt; 28 pieces here, 48 more to come to complete this 6” Block!

But wait – the outer 1″ ring had 48 more pieces coming up. Terrifying! There were 16 half square triangles, 1″ each, besides four 4-patches of 1″!

I thought it would be sensible to wait to foundation paper piece them on a sewing machine. I finally sewed the 4 remaining templates of the block last week, when back in India. I discovered that I had made a mistake when drafting the pattern and I ended up hand-piecing it partly!

Patchworkofmylife Nearly Insane Quilt Block 9
Block 9 of the Nearly Insane Quilt was partially English paper pieced!

Vital Stats
English paper-pieced, foundation paper pieced and hand-pieced.
No of pieces: 76
No. of templates( had it been foundation paper-pieced): 14
Difficulty level: Difficult!
Completed in March 2019

Find out more about Salinda Rupp’s Quilt, popularly known as the Nearly and my version of it here! To see more blocks from my quilt, link on the `Nearly Insane’ link in the page menu.