Off to the Post Office

Whew!  I'm off to the post office today.

I finally finished the last of the January bee blocks.  In the Scrap-bee-licious group, Rachel of Let's Begin Sewing was the January Queen.  Her request - feathers.  Have you seen those blocks!  I thought, these look sooo complicated, not so sure I can be successful.  Well, it took me several "practice" blocks before I felt comfortable enough to say I could actually make ones worthy of sharing.

You wonder, how hard could they be?  Let's just say, I had to cut the feather fabric 3 times before I managed to get the feathers in the right direction. Then came assembly time.  How did that go?  Well, my seam ripper and I became very good friends.

Just for the record, Anna Maria Horner's directions in Quilty Magazine, along with Rachel's directions, hints and pictures, were easy to follow.  I just kept getting tripped up.

Rachel requested jewel tones with a cream background.  I practiced so many blocks that I ran out of the background fabric on the right feather, and had to search through the many boxes of scraps for a suitable background fabric.  I'm confident both will blend with the other blocks.  I'm excited to see her finish!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts!

Thanks for stopping by!

More Bee Blocks

Red Pepper Quilts has a tutorial for a 4" Kaleidoscope block which I had printed for myself back in December.  A fun block for scraps - perfect!  Come January and Anna of Quilting Along the Grain, requested this block for the Global Scrap Bee.

It is a paper pieced block, a process I am still getting acquainted with.  This block was lots of fun and definitely scrap friendly!

Kaleidoscope Blocks

Anna requested bright colors (I have tons of that!) and provided nice photos for examples.  I made these blocks entirely from scraps!  I plan on making more of these for myself and using up more scraps - time to make a real dent in those scrap boxes.

I can't wait to see what Anna sews from these!

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Which Quilt is Next?

Can you believe it?  I accepted another challenge - commit to making 4-6 quilts from my personal collection of quilt books and magazines.  Adrienne of Chezzetcook Modern Quilts is hosting The Library Project QAL.

As I have a large collections of books and an ever-growing collection of magazines, I had a lot of choices and a difficult time deciding.

 I looked through my collections of books and decided upon these:

1.  I am in love with all the quilts in this book and enjoyed making the Gumdrop quilt (here).  This time I am choosing Up, Up and Away from Sunday Morning Quilts.  I love the idea of using scraps!

2.  I love this book, always pull it out and can never decide which to make.  I've decided to make Summer Sunshine.  I like the applique and the challenge of following a more structured pattern.

3.  While searching for a project, I found this book in my library and when I saw the cover, I knew I would have to make this.  I just finished a similar block for Stash Bee and thought this would be a good challenge.  Plus, I have lots of 1/2 yards of prints along with yards and yards of solids.  I think I could really make a dent in my stash.

4.  This commitment is a bit surprising.  I promised to make this quilt for someone, too long ago, and have been putting it off.  It's not really my style but I figure I can modernize the look and possibly paper piece some of the blocks.  I already copied all 20 blocks - you'd think I might have gotten started by now! 

5. Last summer, this quilt was posted on Amy Friend's blog, During Quiet Time and then, lo and behold, the magazine American Quilter showed up in my mailbox!  I made the block for a bee and a practice block for myself and would LOVE to make the entire quilt.

6.  And for my last choice, I plan to make ATOMIC TULIPS by Jen Carlton Bailly as featured in the latest edition of Quilty.  I've worked with curves before and would like more practice.  What better way than this beautiful quilt.

You don't think I will limit myself to these quilts do you?  I have several in progress with a list on paper and in my head! I'm involved in three bees which should also help me an additional three ideas.  Now I just need to find the time to sew, sew, sew!

Thanks for stopping by!

January Stash Bee Block

Yes, I joined another bee - Stash Bee.  I am looking for more challenges which include learning new blocks and techniques, using color combinations that I normally wouldn't use and meeting deadlines.

For January, our Queen Bee, Sara, asked for the Lone Star Hexagon.  I was a bit nervous when I saw this block - 60 degree angles!  This was definitely a challenge!  And the size!  Her colors were grey, coral, navy, black and aqua.  Aqua was tough for me.  Exactly what shade was she looking for?  I used my color wheel to choose -hope I made good choices.

Block 1 - in progress

Block 2 - in progress

I took my time making these blocks; checking the measurements of each strip, recutting strips, checking seam allowances, ripping seams, re-sewing the strips in the correct order and finally arrived at the finished product.  Sara asked that the blocks be left untrimmed.

When I finished these blocks I thought I would probably not choose to make these again, and then, I started browsing my quilt books and magazines for future projects and decided to commit to making this quilt, All Star.

Thanks to this experience, I feel confident in the 60 degree angles and making large blocks.  Committing to this quilt for the 2014 Library  Project QAL.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Days

My 5 year old niece (4 at the time) asked for a quilt.  How could I say no?  So of course, I added her name to the never-ending list and today, I crossed it off!  I asked her, "What colors do you want in your quilt?"  Pink, purple and all the colors of the rainbow! she replied.
I found a fun fabric to anchor the quilt, colorful elephants, but what to do on the front?  I browsed the pile of magazines and found a block that I thought would be perfect.  The block, found in Quiltmaker's 100 BLOCKS, vol. 7 is FRAMED by Cory Yoder of littlemissshabby.com.

Every time my niece is over, she snoops around, picks up any fabric that is pink or purple and asks if it is for her quilt.  For months I've been telling her - you're on the list.

Approximate size: 60 x 60
(The quilt model is my lovely daughter)

Quilted in a zig-zag stitch

See the letters in the purple square, on the quilt, her name is actually spelled out in consecutive squares, wonder if she will find it?

The piecing is a bit uneven - I'm still working on lining up the back exactly the way I really want it.  Maybe next time!

(Grey background)

My daughter and I delivered the quilt while my niece was sleeping.  We covered her with her new quilt and can't wait for her reaction in the morning.  Won't she be surprised to find out she was at the top of the list?



Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and TGIFF (hosted at Quilt Matters).

Procrastination

It's true - I'm a procrastinator.  Started at birth.  According to my mother, I was expected to enter in April but held out until late May - and I've been taking my sweet time ever since.

Instead of setting an unreasonable goal of no more procrastinating, I am just going to hope that others understand.  That being said, here are the items I procrastinated about and finally completed:

Global Scrap Bee October Blocks for Erica of Happy Fabric
(Mailed)

Scrappylicious October Blocks for Cath of Wombat Quilts
(Mailed)

Scrappylicious November Blocks for Alyce of Wonderland by Alyce
(Mailed)

Global Scrap Bee November Blocks for Leigh Anne of Ella's Cottage
(Mailed)

Global Scrap Bee December Blocks for Nesta of Ella and Nesta (packed & ready to mail MAILED!)

Scrappylicious December Blocks for Nicole of Modern Handcraft (packed and ready to mail MAILED!)

Christmas gifts:

Nephew's Apron - Delivered on Xmas

Girls' Aprons - Delivered on Xmas

I have three quilts sandwiched and ready for quilting, just received January block information and added a few more ideas to the list.  As I know I will always be a procrastinator, perhaps I can improve my ability to prioritize.  Who knows?  Let's see what 2014 brings.

Happy 2014 to all!

Linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday and Crazy Mom Quilts.