Design wall Monday, April 28, 2014

 I've got Judy Martin's Three of a Kind up on the wall. I'm six blocks away from having all of the center ones done. I still need 34 of the outer squares, but I have most of them cut and ready to go. A few more weeks, and this one will be added to my done list. This is going to my May UFO, and I'll link this post up to the May goal setting party at The Lovely Year of Finishes when it goes live.

 My main focus for the past week, however, is getting this sampler quilt done. It isn't going to be displayed to anyone except us, since it is full of trials of new techniques for me. This one to the left is a trial of a background fill.

 And to the right are some more background fill trials.

 I started off doing these large green triangles with curved crass hatching. I finally figured out how to get the ruler orientated properly in order to get the curves to cross properly. So, I thought I'd try some other fills in the last two. This one to the left is interwoven triangles.

And this one has some curves and straight lines and interwoven triangles all in the same place. I've gotten to the point where this quilt needed to come off the machine and be turned to make it easier to do the other 2 sides. It's going to be set aside for a while, so I can get back to doing some of the customer quilts I have waiting in line. I had scheduled this one of mine in, so I'm not too far behind. I'm linking this post up to Judy's Design Wall Monday.
After I post this, I have a round robin to work on. There are four of us working on projects from each other. We are taking pictures of the projects as they come to us and again when we are done with them. We are going to get together sometime in June, I think, for a reveal party to each other. After that, each of us will share our final results, and a little bit about each others' on our blogs. I'm working on Jacqui's this month. Last month I had Gail's and next month I get Christine's. So, I'd better get this posted and get to work on Jacqui's project, if it is going to be done before the next guild meeting.

Slow going...

I'm working away at a couple of things right now. I'm back at Three of a Kind, a pattern from Judy Martin's book Scraps.

 I have 26 of these blocks done, so only 10 more to go, plus all the single square units that go around the outer edge.
The other thing I'm working on is the quilting on my sampler quilt. I'm using this one as a learning tool for all kinds of things, tight background fills around applique being one of them.

I've decided I'm not a fan of McTavishing, although maybe this wasn't a good piece to try it on. From what I've seen, that technique requires larger open spaces than what I have here. But I do like the look of that back and forth "C" shape. It has the added bonus, when done near the applique, of filling the background and outlining the applique at the same time. It took me doing half of the center appliqued area before I discovered this. This could be a very good thing to know when it comes to quilting both Cactus Rose and In Full Bloom. I've also added those three in one bubbles to my repertoire, and I am trying very hard to master curved cross hatching. Who would have thought it was so hard making sure the ruler was turned the right way? So far, I have one out of the four sections that I've done that are done correctly.

This one is right.                                                                         This one is wrong.

                  

Because I've decided this is a learning piece, and not a show piece, there will be no ripping. It will be a graphic lesson in how not to do it. I'm trying new techniques inside the sampler squares, as well.

The royal blue background in all the sampler squares are testing other very dense fills. I like the way it is making the pieced portions of the blocks stand out. But, it is all very time consuming. I'm giving myself to the end of the week to finish this. If it's not done, I'll take it off, and work on the quilts I have waiting for customers.
 I think I'll spend the rest of this evening working on more Three of a Kind squares, and then later on, some knitting.

Design Wall Monday Oct. 22

I don't have anything new up on my wall today. I'm still concentrating on getting things finished. But, I thought I would share one of last week's finished, which I am so happy with. My Pieceful Kwilter Bom is finished, and waiting for quilting. I made the mistake of going through all my unquilted tops, and discovered that there are at least 10 of them. When the Pineapple one is finished, hopefully this week, that will make 11. Yikes! Join me with a cup of something warm, and come on over to Judy's Patchwork Times to see more design walls.

The day after the Friday sew in

 This is a quilt that I've been working on for the past year, as a  BOM  sponsored by Shannon at Pieceful Kwilter It is a lovely quilt design and I'm really happy with the way it turned out, and it is finally added to my finished list, and added to the growing piles of my own quilt tops that are waiting to be quilted. I seem to be doing more piecing that quilting these days.

Thank you, Shannon, for all your hard work in designing this, and in writing and posting all the instructions. I'm really happy with the way this quilt turned out, although I do wish the stars in the gold fabric had stood out a bit more. But, I wanted to use the aqua fabric there as a tie together, because I used that fabric somewhere in each of the sampler blocks.

Then I was able to get some work done on my Nine Patch Pineapple, which meant that there was a lot of sewing going on here yesterday. I was able to start at around 2 in the afternoon, and kept on going, with a few breaks, until about 11:30, when my eyes got to the point where they would no longer focus. I noticed, though, after most of it was together, that one of the pinwheel sections is turned the wrong way. Drat! However, the good news is that I have one of those units left over, for some reason, so I might be able to applique it on top of the offending piece, with no one the wiser. (giggle) I started the day with 23 out of 30 blocks for this quilt done. I finished up the last 7 blocks, got them all arranged on the wall, and then got them all sewn together. There was still time after that to get the first pieced border sections cut, and they are in the process of being sewn. I am doing this quilt along with 2 other people in a sew along with Teaquilts . There is a picture there of Tea's finished quilt. She did hers in reds, and it is stunning. The quilt pattern is from a book called "Geometric Gems", and there are several other quilts in the book that I'm itching to do. But now, as usual, I am working the weekend, so won't have much time to scroll through the Friday sew in posts I'm going to go grab some lunch, and then go work on some of the border units before going in to work at 3, even though I would much rather stay at home and play with my fabrics. (sigh)

Design Wall Monday Nov 15

Before I say anything about quilts, I have to get the important stuff out of the way. I've been keeping a secret, mostly, for the last 6 weeks. And it has been a terribly difficult secret to keep. But, I've been given permission, now, to share it, and shout it from the rooftops. Here it comes: WE ARE GOING TO BE GRANDPARENTS!!!! YIPPEE, YAHOO, WOOHOO!!!!!! There, it's out, and I no longer feel like I'm going to burst. The lovely couple doing this are our wonderful son, Noel, and our even more wonderful, since she has to do all the work growing the baby, daughter-in-law, Laurie.  I'm walking around with a permanent grin on my face, doing happy dances. Cute fabrics, and baby clothes, and toys, and all the fun stuff, while someone else, namely Laurie, does all the hard work of growing and having the baby. Between her Mom and myself, I suspect we are going to drive Laurie just a little tiny bit crazy. Laurie's Mom, Jan, is a knitter, so, when we were all together over Thanksgiving, back in October, which is when they told us, Jan and I made a pact. She would knit to her heart's content for this coming baby, and I would sew to my heart's content. Like I said, we are probably going to drive Laurie crazy, but, it is so much fun. Anyway, to quilting stuff. I have, on my design wall, the almost complete layout of the Block of the Month I've been doing, designed by Shannon of Pieceful Kwilter I am so pleased with the way this quilt is turning out. She is going to be sponsoring another one, and I think I will definitely be doing it. I know it isn't on my goals list for this month, but I'm doing well enough with it to be able to add something else in.  And now, join me over ay Judy's Patchwork Times to browse through other inspirational design walls.

Design Wall Monday Oct. 18

I've been working very hard to get my October to-do list finished, and I'm almost there. On my design wall today are the last 2 BOM's and a partial layout of my Pineapple quilt along. I have all the unit 3's finished, and am ready to start putting it all together. I've also managed to finished one of the things on my Christmas list, but I can't show a picture of that. Go on over to Judy's Patchwork Times to see more design walls.

BOM's finished

I've been doing a BOM sponsored by Shannon and decided to work on the July and August blocks today. I'd forgotten how much I like just doing a block or 2 at a time for these BOM's. It's nice to be able to see a quick finish, after all the mega projects I've been doing lately. Just 2 or 3 more months and this project will be finished. Well, except for the small detail of stitching down all the fusible applique. Maybe I should get it out and start doing a small amount at a time. But, that means changing over to invisible thread, and changing the tension, and then having to change it all back when I want to do something else. More hassle than it's worth, so I think I'll end up marthoning it, at some point, but not today. I think I'll go back to doing pineapples.

Finishes

As I mentioned in an earlier post, having Susan here visiting inspired me to finish a few projects that have been lying around here, one of them, for at least 8 years.  I got caught up on my blocks for the BOM sponsored by Shannon at The Pieceful Kwilter . I finished the quilt top from the Burning the Midnight Oil

Then, I found a round robin quilt that I had participated in at least 8 years ago. I loved it, except for one of the borders that was very poorly sewn. There were a lot of places in that particular section where the seams didn't even get sewn together properly, and only one of the seams was actually sewn, so, I ended up ripping out that border, and so it sat, waiting for the perfect fabric border to put back in. While Susan was here, we went to Len's Mills to get some binding fabric for her quilt, and spent some time browsing the shelves. I found the perfect fabric to fill that space, perfect size, colours and theme to go with that round robin quilt. So, my "Robin in the Window" is done, and ready for quilting. And, lastly, my One Block Wonder is done.

"DogEar Star" done

I've finished my block for Shannon's BOM. It's called "DogEar Star" I think it's pretty, and plays well with all the others i've done up to now. I have spent my alloted time cutting fabric up from my scraps, though there are still a lot left. I think, though, rather than starting something new, I'm going to use some self discipline, and continue to work on the Endless Chain quilt. Here's a sneak peak. The holes in the centres of the squares will eventually be covered with circles of the navy fabric.

Pattern redesign finished

I spent yesterday, once I finally stopped stalling, redesigning the patterns for the bridesmaids dresses, and managed to get it done. So, then was the cutting and sewing part, for the lining, just to see if it worked the way I hoped it would. And it did. I'm doing another happy dance. Considering it's only the lining for the dress, I think it looks pretty good. Samantha comes over tomorrow for a fitting, and if it works, I can cut out and start on the dress portion. I'm hoping to get all three dresses done by May. Should be doable, if all goes as well as it has so far. I've also been working on the centre applique for my BOM and have gotten all the bias stems on, as well as the leaves. I'm using steam a seam 2, which is so light weight, that it is barely there. It doesn't have the stiffness of other fusible products I've used. I'm going to work on the flowers for the rest of the evening now, as a reward for work done, and procrastination conquered. Woohoo!!!

It worked!

My list for yesterday worked. It was all finished, and then some. Got both November, and December's blocks done for the Pieceful kwilter  BOM.  The background in the pic looks black, but it is actually a dark blue. I had a blast a couple of days before Christmas, shopping online at The Thousands of Bolts website. They had a blowout sale, and I bought tons of fabric, none of it more than $3.95 a yard. So, some of it is finding a home in these blocks. Considering, in Canadian Quilt Shops, it is a challenge to find anything cheaper than $7 to $8 dollars a yard, and most of it at more than $12. 00 a yard, those prices are fabulous,and not to be missed.

So, today's tasks, go for walk, then come hame and do something fun until I have to go in for a 3-11 shift at the hospital.

Dangerous Blog hopping

OK, so I've decided that I've found another project I just have to do. The Pieceful Kwilter has a lovely block of the month going. Absolutely beautiful. How much more can just one block a month add? I can do that. Does it sound like I'm trying to talk myself into it? YEP!!! The project started in November, so I'll just have to sit down and do those 2 blocks, and then follow along. I'm also doing the BOM from the midnight oil site. So much fun. Woohoo. And, to top it off, the quilting on my daughter's wedding quilt is done. Now, for burying all the threads, and doing the binding. A good day's work