The Hungry Goldfish Quilts

So far this the only example of the "Hungry Goldfish" quilt pattern, and considering it takes a little more than 7 times as long as the last two patterns it may be rare for a while. Still i really like this pattern and at this size the pieces are small enough not need any more than outlining for a quilting method. With such large spaces it should be very soft and flexible. These Hungry goldfish shaped pieces are 31/2 inches wide at the head and so fall well within the maximum recommended un-stabilized width of 3 1/2 inches after shrinking (usually 14%). Since the rounded edged squares showing in the pattern fish are 1 inch across it should be feasible to increase the size of the fish pieces for a larger quilt up to a preshrunk size of 12 inches across. The full two axis network printed on the template should produce round edged squares 3.4056 inches across in the quilting (after shrinking 14%). The pattern fish here should be correct if printed on an 8/2 x 11 sheet.







The closeup shows how hard these pieces curve away from each other during sewing. The method that worked best for me was to create sub assemblies ( the ladies at the Quilt Guild  always asked about the squares, but these sub-assemblies look more like feathers).
Any way it went easiest like this. First they bite, mouth to side in rows. Then they cuddle, the loose tails get one side sewn to the adjacent fish. Then they mesh, the sub assemblies lock tails with the main assembly. My experiment is a baby blanket, currently about 30 x 36 inches but I have yet to finish it off smooth. I would like it a little bigger, but I'll have to wait for more fabric. I'll definitely be showing it off when I get it worked out.

 The "Switch Back" or single row zigzag pattern is the only one I've used so far, but I came up with three more promising looking arrangements.





















This one I call "Squared Fish" since it's network also contains the single wiggle square net.

                                                   This one is "Phase Flipped                                                            Fish" since it contains the phase                                                    flipped side slipped single                                                              wiggle square net.













The last for now at least is the"Double Zigzag".

Two Axis Spawns Gold Fish

Again the current project has hit a funding wall! Woo hoo, this means to move forward I have to think. There are still pieces I could add, but I really wanted to just make a back so I could check out the quilting process for this one. Since none of the pieces are more than about five and a half inches across (before shrinking 14%) the batting should be stable even without the string ties in the center of each square (they're not showing yet, no back eh?). I'm excited to see how soft and flexible this one will without the excessively dense quilting I've seen so often. Still every seam will be reinforced by the quilting, plus it looks really old, cool.

 Since I didn't have any big pieces of fabric for the back, and I still wanted to have all the seams reinforced by the quilting if possible, I went with the phase-flipped single wiggle square pattern. But I got bogged down trying to piece the squares together and only made righty hooked ones. I only needed three whole squares but most of my fabric was single sided, so I couldn't flip anything except the gingham.
I ripped the stitches on the nearly three foot seam and started to flip it over, then realized if I just moved it I'd get the same effect.

  The more I look at them the better I like these fishy shapes!  Now the idea of piecing and all the hassle of matching seams front to back seems a bit much and the two axis project is on hold waiting for a back. The gold fish project is begun.

Two Axis Progress one

I'm nowhere near done but I've got a good start. It's big enough to tell I want a whole quilt first time out, and probably a baby blanket too. I thumb-nailed a a mock up to get an idea of how many of each piece I would need. I had some velum graph paper (you can erase and redraw on this a lot!) it's pretty transparent so I made flaps and doped out a couple of different backs to see how big the pieces would be.

   This quilt is made from the scraps left over from a lot of other projects. There is no budget for this project so I won't be trying to hold out for a single piece back. These designs don't look like they're gonna save much fabric, but all their seams fall right on seams on the two axis top.I'll probably string a tie from front to back in the center of every roundy edged square to its reference dot on                                                  the back. To be sure the seams match up,                                                      before I  begin the quilting I plan to reference                                                  them with  hand stitches from the back to front.

Celadon Topped And Two Axis Simplified Begun

 Even with no fixed plan for this quilt, the  large hexagons really moved it along. Sewing late at night and on the weekends I still managed to get this far in two weeks and tile a shower during the same two weeks. As it got bigger I kept laying it out on top of a queen sized bed and turning it various ways and pining on pieces according to the cheat sheet. None of it is pre shrunk so I'm expecting 14% shrinkage (ow). With the rows running lengthwise on the bed alternating lefty righty there's a wavy edge about 5 or 6 inches off each side of the mattress. because of the way the hexes touch it should be possible to cut straight across each end and have solid green straight edges top and bottom.

 Since I've got to wait a bit before I can get my batting and the material for the back I dragged out an earlier project and decided to take another run at it. To the right is the foam board experiment cut in with an Xacto knife and stuffed down in the cuts with a piece of a credit card. Next to it is a section of the densest sample I was able to sew. It was crazy slow and that is the only piece I made that size. It might be good for clothes though.

In this picture the sane arrangement has room for fourteen or so sock monkeys per square instead 1 3/4 monkeys like the earlier test. The goal is to make the top out of the full two axis pattern quilting atop each edge and piecing the back together out of larger single wiggle squares. The idea is to reference front to back by basting the lines of the back to the front network by hand, then quilt it all by machine from the front. There's still a lot of  piecing and sewing  before the back is a factor but so far I'm enthused.