Success........ UFO for August is done

My goal for yesterday was finished, with the exception of one pillow case. And that pillow case is all cut out, and pinned and ready to sew. Another hour should finish it.
It's not a very good picture, with part of it in the sun, and it gives a good idea of how the whole thing works.
Here's a closer view of the side setting triangles. I tried hooked feathers for the first time on this one. And I did the faux piped binding by machine again.
Here's the backing. You can see some of the continuous curves done in the blocks here.
And finally, the pillow case. It goes with this quilt, quite well,  but I think it will go well with other quilts in my collection, as well.
And now, does anyone have an idea for a name for this thing. Right now, it is called Spring Swap because the star blocks in the quilt are from an online swap I participated in back in 2010, hosted by Shannon at Pieceful Kwilter. I would like something a bit more imaginative, but I have a terrible time coming up with names for quilts.
Edit: after much thought, and a suggestion from Gail which focused my brain on the flying geese in the quilt, I've decided to name this quilt Spring Migration. I think it fits with the flying geese in the quilt blocks, and with the fact that the star blocks "migrated" from all over the United States, and even one from Australia. I'm linking this post up to Can I get a Whoop Whoop at the blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict and to TGIFF at Amy's Crafty Shenanigans and to the August UFO reveal at Patchwork Times.

What was accomplished.....

When I posted yesterday about planning to spend the day in my sewing room, I said I might show what I ended up accomplishing, so here we go, I'm actually going to do that. LOL! First, I finished a customer quilt, and got it off the machine. I can't show pictures of it yet, though, because she hasn't seen it yet. Then I had scheduled one of my quilts to go on the machine. If I don't schedule them in, they don't get done at all. So, I loaded on this month's UFO, figured out the quilting design and got it started. This is a quilt that I did back in 2010. It was a swap hosted by Shannon who has a blog called Pieceful Quilter. She does fabulous work, both in her piecing and applique, and in her long arm quilting. There is actually a block in this quilt from Queensland Australia!!!! I'll show that one when I get to it. I think all of the blocks that I received from the swap were signed, except maybe one of them. It is so cool!! It is going to be fun to quilt.


 
I'm happy with the way it is looking, so far. Then, after my legs got tired from doing so much standing at the machine, I did a couple more Great Granny Squares So now there are five.


 
All in all, it was a great way to spend a day.

Design wall Monday July 12

Monday already. That was fast. I managed to get the Spring Swap quilt done, although I'm debating putting on a couple more borders. It doesn't look quite finished, yet. I'm thinking a 5 inch border the same colour as the setting triangles, and then a 2 1/2 inch repeat of the first border. After taking the Spring Swap quilt down from the design wall, I put up some squares for Judy Martin's "Shakespeare In The Park" quilt. I'm lovin' it. I'm not sure how much more I'm going to get done on it in the next few days, though. I've got some customer quilts waiting to be done, so that's my plan for the next few days. But, I can always do some piecing during the times when I have to take a break from standing at the machine. Hmmm, sounds like a plan to me. But, first, I'm going to grab a coffee, chocolate raspberry, and spend some time checking out the other design walls at Patchwork times

Design wall Monday July 5

On my design wall today is the same quilt as last week. But, I've made a lot of progress on it. There are only 4 alternate blocks left to put together. Then, I can do the setting triangles for around the edge, and put on the borders. I am trying to decide between using the off white for the setting triangles, or the hyacinth fabric that is in the corner triangles of the outer blocks. What do you think?

Grab a cup of tea, in my case, iced, and visit other design walls at Patchwork Times

Edit: I just did an audition of the 2 fabrics for the setting triangles, and the hyacinth fabric is WAY too much and overwhelms the whole quilt. So, off white setting squares, it is.

Design wall Monday June 28

It's been a month since I managed a design wall post. Life is quickly getting back to normal, after all the rushing with the wedding, and the wonderfulness of Susan's visit. She left on Wednesday to go to visit with her family in Cape Breton. (Someplace I would very much like to see, someday) The day after she left, I was back to work, after 3 1/2 weeks off. Why is it that time is so weird? It goes so slowly while waiting for something we've been looking forward to, and then totally speeds by when it gets here. Ah well. Susan was good for me while she was here. She is a very organized person, whereas me, not so much. I pulled out all my UFO's to show her, and got inspired to finish up a couple of them, while she relaxed and had a good time reading. I'll post some pictures of them later this week. On my design wall is one of my UFO's, the spring block swap that was hosted by Shannon, at The Pieceful Kwilter There is actually a block in there from Queensland, Australia. How cool is that! The first pic is of the blocks themselves, and the second is with the alternate blocks that I'm going to use to finish the quilt, and get it up to the size I want. There will be 20 of the alternate blocks and, in EQ5, at least, they form a really neat secondary pattern, and all the blocks merge into one overall design. I hope it works as well in real life.  I'm planning on working at this fairly steadily for the next week or 2 until I get it done, along with some customer quilts waiting to be long armed. But, enough for now, time to get ready for work, when I'd much rather continue to sew. (sigh)

One down, 11 to go

I've been busily cutting and sewing, and have one of the swap blocks done, already. I can almost feel the warm spring breezes, when looking at these fabrics. Woohoo. I'm having a blast doing these. Thank you, Shannon, for hosting this swap

Life is Good

It's cold and snowy outside today. A perfect day to stay inside and do, wait for it............. more quilting and sewing. Yippee!!!! I have coffee, not flavoured though, I ran out, and that isn't enough incentive to go out in the cold and snow. Or, there are all kinds of teas that I got for Christmas, to keep me warm while I sew. There are places to visit, and people to talk to on the internet. Shannon, at The Pieceful Kwilter blog is hosting a spring block swap, that I've decided to participate in. I know, I know, I really don't need another project. But, it called my name, and I had to answer. It's to be the February block pattern from her BOM, all done in spring fabrics and colours, so it will be spring in my sewing room, if not outside. So, I think I will take a brief break from all that paper piecing, and play with some other fabric. I think I'm going to use the fabrics pictures here to do the blocks. The cream is to be the background, and the green is going in the same place as it is in my block here. The purple will be the star points, and the pink and yellow will be the rectangle under the star points. I'm going to fussy cut the seed packet fabric for the centre square of the block.  All of the large cactus units are done, and are waiting to be de-papered. (yuck). I have my February block finished, and did one of the same pattern for a charity quilt, which has to go to the post office so that it can go back to it's organizer, when the weather clears. Life doesn't get much better. The one thing that could make this day absolutely perfect, would be to have Susan, my BFF, who lives in Edmonton, here to sew and chat with me. But, that's not going to happen. But, with this wonderful tool of the internet, I can chat with her, and keep in touch, and rejoice in our friendship. The music is on, currently playing Christian contemporary Michael W. Smith, and I can sing along to my heart's content. Yep, life is good. Thank you Lord.