More Christmas Blocks

I also took some 8 inch foundations and spent a few more evenings making these 36 blocks. Maybe big enough for a table topper, or separate into 2-3 table runners – but certainly not big enough for a nap quilt over the back of the couch. The christmas scraps are now put away for a while .

I have started sorting the 2.5 inch strips for some fun with my friend Shirley later in the year, and the 2 inch strips are going to be a long going project with some Sharyn Craig inspiration. Sharyn Craig has been a valuble resource ever since I first met her in between the covers of Quiltworks and Quilting Today magazines. Unfortunately those magazines are no longer published but I had every copy because they had great ideas.

So I have never attempted  Sharyn’s Half Log Cabin blocks and nows the time to use some of my scraps and experiment. There is a nice youtube video here to inspire you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU4QgnWnRiE

Mary’s Quilt’s.com also has good instructions. Mary makes lots of string quilts and scrappy quilts for the Quilts of Valour project. She kindly offers free tutorials and patterns for community/comfort quilt guild projects.

http://www.maryquilts.com/half-log-cabin/

Christmas post #2

If at first you don’t succeed, or could have been titled – *don’t argue with wordpress*  or * what do you expect when it’s FREE?* but here’s the final picture I couldn’t get in the previous post.

so this is what resulted from that table full of scraps and there’s a lot more of the pile still left for the workbee tonight. and what do I add as borders?

Shades of Christmas

Still on the mission to make string blocks, log cabin blocks or use whatever fits.

I grabbed my christmas scrap bag next. Took out the bits with fusible on the back and found these useable strips or small chunks.

 

 

 

 

I found these near the bottom and one of them already had some logs sewn around the edges.

Cuteness Factor – Off The Scale

I was just lucky or he actually sat still for longer than 6 seconds, but here is a photo of Mr. Gabe,age 2 and grandpa

OK – just call it a creative mess

The demo evening at the guild went well . Shawn gave valuble information on adjusting the tension and other points like stitch length on your machine.Shirley had several methods of making flying geese, plus a new style that may become my favorite. I took the group thru points to remember for improving yourbinding success and particularly the  mitered corners on your bindings.

So I came home and put my samples away and thought……..what am I going to do with the rest of the summer with this tidy , reorganized studio? Well, I guess we could make a creative mess and see what’s in some of these boxes and bins.

The first item that popped out was a string pieced sample from my class assortment. It’s a little small at 32.5 inches, so I’ve worked the last 4 days to make 50 more blocks.Here’s what I had made about 2 years ago.

So I dug around and found  4 assorted bins of blue scraps here here…….. and here……..

Here are the 50 blocks that I completed

I’m going on to some green blocks next. If I can make 10 blocks per day until the Sept guild meeting, then I hope that I will have used up a great deal of these scraps.

serenity is nice sometimes……….

We had a wee leak in the basement wall this past winter. The wet spot happened to be on one wall of my studio and it was discovered because of squelchy carpet. Moving a whole wall of drawers and bookcases was not fun, but I did that before I went upstairs and told the hubby.

I informed him  that the good news was that I took care of the water and the furniture moving , the bad news was that he had to rip out a wall and find this problem. It finally got fixed this week and I moved all the “stuff” back into place. I decided to clean , declutter and rearrange a bit. I took these pics to show some online friends.

Here’s the damaged wall all repaired.I’m working on weeding out some magazines in the middle, but the books on the right have already been thinned for the guild book sale last fall.

One can never have too much fabric for inspiration, can one? The goal is to trim this all down to only fit in the drawers and not overflow into plastic bins-yeah right! Don’t laugh………………

These small bins under the table are scraps- but I don’t feel inclined to get rid of them – there’s always a search for just the right wee piece so I don’t have to cut into yardage.

I put away all the projects that were class samples, and quilt tops or quilt sandwiches and left out 2 piles of things I’d like to tackle. The first pile on top of that table is half finished class samples from a string piecing class and some orphan blocks. I want to get them completed by Sept.

Then this pic below shows the large number of boxes and ziplock baggies full of strings, 2 and 2.5 inch strips, precut bricks, squares,logs etc that has developed from the scrap organizer class that I taught last fall. These definately have to be used up by Sept as I want empty floor space. New gift and/or community quilt tops will be the result.

It’s nice to have elbow room on both of the sewing  and cutting tables and I cleaned up my mess tonight RIGHT AFTER I completed an art card challenge for the fiberspeak meeting.

Sunny Days are here again- The Skies ………….

Well , you know how the song goes. I went to the Patricia today and tackled another path. Did not have any war wounds as I did not prune any roses or go near the Yucca this time.

Just for your information. The best Chocolate chip cookies in town are available at the Thurs matinees. I know because I did quality control on 2 as soon as they came out of the oven. Ann adds twice the nuts and chips AND uses real butter instead of margarine.Yum!

Look at the total on the fundometer. We’re nearly at $40,000. Watch for a great concert on the 29th of April.

Gabe is now 2 years old. This is one of the few photos that turned out on Monday- he is a blur in all the others.

This afternoon, I got back to the compost area. I worked for 2 hours and got this pile

out of this area

and now this pile needs the top raked off into the new empty space and the bottom added to the pile in the first photo.

Then I have to put these 2 piles back into that area – nothing like moving things twice, is there?

Then I’ll get out the mulcher grinder and reduce this pile into chips.

And do you think that I may have harvestable rhubarb in a week or two?

April 2012 Sat Workshop

My last class for the Timberlane quilter’s guild will be “Big Blocks”.

I’ve often been dismayed when old and new quilters are unable to calculate how to make a basic grid based block into any size they wish. I often hear comments like Oh, can I borrow your pattern or I can’t find the magazine that this was featured in but I can borrow my friend’s.

Goals for the workshop:

1. Take a basic 12 inch patchwork block of the basic grid construction style and make it any size you want without buying a pattern or instructions.

2. Learn common building units that you can “mix and match” to design unique personal blocks.

3.  These expanded * Big Block* methods give you quick results without a lot of fussy little pieces. You will get quick results for quick gifts when you have a deadline or need simple ideas for community projects. These also look very good as the beginning center of a medallion style quilt.

4. Learn basic construction tips and tricks as well as good pressing habits to give you smooth, crisp blocks.

OPTIONS

There will be 3-4 “patterns” provided if you wish to copy one of the class samples.

Or you may wish to design your own block as you explore and discover the variations in 5 patch, or 6-8 grid construction.

I will have black and white line drawings for you to photocopy and color as you wish at home.  There will be basic fabric requirements already calculated for a few of the blocks.

Nine Patch in the Barn Door( above)- a variation of Hole in the Barn Door. This is 30 inches and is a 5 grid. This will soon have a couple of borders and may end up as a thank you gift.

This is a seven grid example and is 25 inches .

This is a variation on a basic Ohio Star. It’s a 6 grid and is 24 inches without the borders. I like to take a basic pieced nine-patch like an Ohio Star and play with the corners and centers. Doreen Speckmann is an inspiration with these building units.

This (above) was the BOM block from the guild’s exchange a couple of Decembers ago. I noted that the 12 inch version caused a few guild members some troubles with meeting points and seam allowance bulk.I enlarged it at that time to see where the problems with the seams lay. Pressing the seams open on the flying geese sections solved the problem and gave a great result. It’s 24 inches without the borders and is based on a 6 grid. I went back to the website with the original directions and shake my head at the poor pressing directions.

You’ll recognize this( above)  as a Carpenter’s Wheel block and is usually made with difficult diamonds and set in seams.I have found 2 versions that eliminate the set in seams and this version uses 1/2 square triangles. I would make this again in much brighter contrasts. It’s 24 inches and is a 8 grid so each 1/2 sq. is 3 inches- a much easier building unit size.

If you choose to do this block at the workshop, think carefully about the fabric choices.

This is called Snow Crystals and can be found in a few places online. I’ll find the exact locations and post. This also uses just 1/2 square triangles. It would look nice in fewer colour changes to simplify fabric requirements but you know how I love to make something scrappy. It is 32 inches and is a 8 grid.

Welcoming the new year

Yes, I have been absent for some time. That will change in 2012 as I finish up a bunch of commitments and get back to my own work.

I’ve been busy with my home guild as we are celebrating 25 years and I felt that my last year of guild politics should finish with a bang. I was the guild’s first  president, past president, secretary, program chairman numerous times, same with multiple years as newsletter editor,librarian, raffle committee and teaching. I felt that I would put a lot of effort into this last year and make sure that there was lots of effort put into workshops and other program activities.

There’s been a lot of time and energy from many guild members ,spent on the transition to our new location. Now I can look ahead to finishing the annual guild challenge, putting together my cookie tin exchange quilt in March  and finishing up several community quilts.

Then I am going to get back to my skinny series as the idea jar is overflowing. I’d like to have several new pieces ready for the Arts Alive in the Park ( august) and then of course along comes the next quilt show.

I know that there will be an emptiness with no commitments to the guild, but I am hoping that I can fill the void with more arts council activities.

I’m going to add a few photos for Leslie , who asked me to show the 2 blocks we discussed. In the cookie tin exchange, ( one a month rotating through our group) there was one tin that asked for black and white blocks. The beginning block was of a tangram figure. I wanted to try some more difficult blocks as the recipient really likes a challenge, so I chose 2 blocks that have been favs of mine for years.

The bottom 2 pieced blocks are mine. Left side is a unnamed block from the 90′s and I had lost the  instructions, so proceeded to dust off the brain cells and do some drafting. The right block is called Tap Dance and is found in quite a few of the Quilter’s Newsletter special magazines over the years.

june deadlines

Nice drizzle from the skies today which lets me work on this skinny piece guilt free. I like the effect of the 3 strand of embroidery floss for the quilting thread and do not mind the Japanese / boro type naive/folk  stitching . I can’t decide if it goes this way up or the other.

I took pics and flipped them both ways and the orientation feels comfortable both ways. My personal deadline is to get this finished for the end of the year party. The design was inspired by the work of Tommy Fitzsimmons.

next skinny in the series

Guess who the fool was to volunteer her home and garden for 30-40 people to enjoy potluck,evening glass of wine and hopefully be as bug free as possible. Yup!