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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Next up?

This might be the next project. It's a UFO from 1999. I remember the year only because this was to be my millennium quilt. My guild at the time exchanged 2 1/2-inch squares so that we could get 2,000 squares for our quilt. I spent hours sorting the squares by color and value and trying to weed out all the duplicates (and squares so poorly cut they couldn't be used).

I have about a third of the blocks I need. And I found my drawings and notes about what I had planned. I need 40 squares across and 50 down to get 2,000, which will require a few rows of squares running down between the blocks and squares running around the outside.

I pieced one more block this week, and realized why this project hadn't gotten far. Kind of boring piecing, and those squares aren't all that square. Makes me wonder how badly I cut the ones I exchanged. At least I can see definite improvement in my sewing skills in the last 13 years! Wonder if I finish this if a quilt historian one day will think it was made by two different quilters.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Couldn't wait

Doll quilt, 19.5 x 26 inches.
I was loving Lori's quilt-along so much that I couldn't wait for her next step, and now my little top is done. I'm so pleased with it.

I see she has posted step 3 and is promising quilting suggestions next, which will be great because I think I might hand quilt this one. (And just ignore the other little wall hangings that haven't had a stitch put in them for years.)

Thanks, Lori!

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Switching gears

Triangle Love, 69 x 84
Top is done. The pattern is Chopsticks, which I changed a bit by using a single fabric where she has multiple fabrics and using multiple colors where she has a solid. I wanted to highlight that Marcia Derse fabric that is fabulous in person but does not photograph well. My version also has a different number of blocks and rows than the pattern.
And when I was almost done putting it together I thought, "I should have oriented the rows up and down." Maybe next time.
Then I completely switched gears in terms of scale and color and started Lori's doll-quilt quilt-along Pink Lemonade. I'm working on Part 2 (the half blocks). This is such a fun project. I'm going back to it right now and put off making the binding and backing for the triangle quilt!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Love triangle

Apologies for photo, which does not capture awesomeness of fabric.
This will not be the first new UFO of 2012! I will finish it easily, but early in the next year. Since this picture, I have pieced all the whole triangle-shaped blocks. I have to figure out the setting blocks as I am morally opposed to piecing a whole block, however simple -- and these are! -- just so I can cut it in half (plus quarter-inch seam allowance) and toss the other half (less quarter-inch seam allowance) away.

Photos do NOT do justice to this Marcia Derse fabric. You really must see it in person. I might frame my scaps it's so gorgeous! But in this picture it kinda looks like a leopard shed on my design wall. Even my husband likes it. He walked past the quilt room the other night and said, "Wow. I like those colors!" Usually he only offers an opinion if I specifically ask so that was a good sign.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Cover up

I bought myself a Kindle Touch awhile back, but didn't get a cover because of course I should make one. I used the pattern in Quilter's Home magazine that I used before, but I had to adapt it to the size of my device, which is smaller. It's a snug fit. Should have made the straps a bit slack. I'll have to keep that in mind if I make another.
Fabric is Cosmo Cricket's Circa 1934 for the cover and Sweetwater Authentic for the inside. Both are Moda fabrics. 

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Ghosts of Christmas Past

Saw this in the neighborhood the other day. Looks like Christmas came before the Halloween decorations had been taken down. Some scarfs and Santa hats and these ghosts are ready for the season!

In quilting news, the border is on the top, the backing is made and the whole lot has been shipped off to the longarmer. I've got the binding ready to go when I get it back.

I cut the border so the same pattern is in all the strips and they move around the center. Of course, the top is so large no one else is likely to notice.

And this is what I'm working on next. I fell in love with this gold fabric by Marcia Derse and found a pattern right away that I think will highlight it perfectly.

Wishing everyone a lovely holiday however you celebrate it.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

On the border

The colors are a bit off, and it is wider than my design wall, but you get the idea. My original border choice didn't work. Neither did two other options from the stash. All too busy, but the right colors. So I was forced -- forced I tell you -- to go to the quilt shop today and find a border.

I was not forced, however, to buy other fabrics and a pattern, which will probably be my next quilt. (UFOs are so passe.) If I can just keep my focus on this one until I get the borders on, then I can ship it off to the longarmer. Those new fabrics are like a siren song though. "Cut me. Cut me," they whisper ever louder. Sigh. Maybe a test block or two.