Quilt-a-Thon Weekend

I had a lovely Thanksgiving with my Mom and some friends on Thursday afternoon. Before I went, and after I got back, I worked on my Dear Jane blocks.  On Friday, Bonnie Hunter released Part 1 for her holiday mystery quilt, this year called Celtic Solstice. This was my project on Friday and Saturday.

 Dear Jane

Here are the first 13 blocks for my quilt with gray and cream backgrounds:

And here are the next 10 from the second installment of the Dear Jane club I'm in.  These are mostly paper pieced, a new skill for me. Tedious, but very precise outcome so it's worth it!

Second Month - 10 of 12 done with Black and White Backgrounds

Second Month - 10 of 12 done with Gray and Cream Backgrounds

I am amusing myself with the b/w versions by using fabric in some of the blocks that go with the name or with current events. For instance, the mustache fabric I used to honor the fact that it was "Movember" when I made it. That's a movement to focus on men's health where men grow a mustache in November, soccer ball fabric for the block called "Chris's Soccer Field", and utensils on fabric for the block called "Adelaine's Apron Strings". A little hidden humor amuses me!

I am including some of my grandmother's embroidery in the gray and cream version -- you can see two blocks in the picture from the first month that include some of the embroidery. I will scatter some in here and there, as the mood hits me.

I find it interesting to see how the blocks look in different color ways, too. The two picture of the second month have the blocks in the same positions. Interesting isn't it?

I still have 2 more center blocks to do, and 3 more border triangles. I know what I want to do with the borders for the gray/cream version, but I'm still deciding for the black and white version. More on that when I get more of them done!

Celtic Solstice

I worked all day Friday and much of Saturday on the Celtic Solstice Step 1.  We used the Tri Recs rulers seen in the first picture and made many units - orange and neutrals in the middle with blue side pieces on all of them. Here's my progress:

All orange fabrics used so far are shown here - 92 units

All neutral fabrics used so far are shown here - 96 units

 Step 1 is completed! Well, except for trimming dog ears. Maybe I'll do that and maybe I won't!

Check out what everyone else is up to here!

All in all, a very productive weekend!

During the next week, I am going to work on the baseball quilt I am designing and making for a friend who is going into the hospital next week for surgery.  I will not have Friday to sew, so I may not make as much progress on the mystery. I am going to try to keep up unless it starts to stress me. This is a FUN project, so I'll do all I can and finish up later if I need to!  Kudos to Bonnie Hunter for providing such a wonderful project for her fans each holiday for free.

Dixie Diary Month 11: Just Hominy

Perhaps corn was on my mind with the hominy, or maybe the bright sunshine, put me in a bright yellow mood for this block.  I think the graphic detail on the star pieces give it a bit of a modern flair.

I also tried some purple combinations -- if I had used purple, the middle would have been moved up and to the right slightly - you can see a bit of the purple flower in the upper portion of the block's middle square. I thought I liked it better until I took pictures and compared them, and settled on the yellow.

I had a little trouble with the Y seams, and I actually think now it is because I miscalculated and made my middle square a tad too small.  (The instructions were originally incorrect - easy typo to miss when you're posting two sizes of blocks.) Anyway - the block finished a bit too small, so I will need to add coping strips to it when setting it.  No big problem there - I've done it before and I suspect I will do it again!

There is just one more month to go for this very fun project. I have an ambitious (for me) setting and border planned so it may take into the New Year I expect before I finish this one.

I have so many projects going at the moment, but that's for another post.

Dear Jane - Month 1

My final scheme for the Dear Jane quilts is to make the blocks with cream and gray backgrounds in a pattern ringing out from the center along with the bright fabrics provided as part of the club I joined through Kelly Ann's Quilting, taught by Doreen Johnson. I will also sporadically insert embroidery work into these blocks.

My background fabrics are on order, so I made some samples to test out the patterns and to work with the small pieces.  Each of these blocks is made at 5 inches, finishing in the quilt at 4.5 inches. I did a couple of "practice" blocks using black and white fabrics as my background and bright fabrics in a variety of colors and hues. Then I did one practice block with some embroidery incorporated.


Well, I then proceeded to make all thirteen of the blocks posted for October in the black/white/bright scheme. I do love how they look.

And I really like this version with the embroidery incorporated.








Here's the black and white blocks placed in the locations where they would appear in the quilt:

You see where this is going, right?  Yes, I am going to proceed with making two versions of the Dear Jane.  I may realize the insanity of it all and stop one of them part way through.  Hey, they're just 4.5" squares, right?

And here's the rest of the blocks with the black and white backgrounds:

Snowman Wall Hanging

In another finish for 2013, I completed a wall hanging of a snowman that Kelly Ann's Quilting presented as a Block of the Week. This was my first foray into the world of fusible applique.  I am still undecided how much I like the technique, but it was certainly faster and more accurate for me than needle-turned applique.  And it's really cute!

One of my big projects for the coming year is going to be a large Gerbera daisy wall hanging that will use fusible applique so I'm glad I got to practice on this one.

RBD 2013 BOM Mystery Top Completed

I completed the top for the Riley Blake Designs block of the month mystery.  The series was titled "Things We Love".  The first 8 months for this BOM included three applique blocks.  I did them because I decided to do blocks of the week/month this year so that I would make blocks I would not have otherwise tried.

HOWEVER, I drew the line at the final block they posted for month 9 (September).

Flower Garden by Cindy Guch (from Pinterest)

Flower Garden

The left is what they designed. Umm, I do not LOVE applique, so I opted to substitute a Flower Basket block on the right above.

For the setting, since this was about learning new techniques, I decided to do a Twist n Turn treatment to the blocks as shown by Sharyn Squier Craig.  Then, I used sashing with cornerstones which was also something I have not done before. The top is done!

I will bind it in the orange fabric used for the little cornerstones.

Since this is now three tops I have completed and are ready to go to a longarmer, I guess I better go contact someone.

Dear Jane .... And so it starts ....

I have officially, bona-fide-ily lost my ever-lovin' mind!  I have joined a Dear Jane club at Kelly Ann's Quilting!  I went to an information session this past Saturday and signed up.  Doreen Johnson is presenting her methods for making (and finishing!) a Dear Jane quilt in 13 months.  Well, we shall see if I can keep up with that pace, but it sounds very interesting and very fun.

Besides, what's a girl to do without an intense project on her plate?  I finished the Grandmother's Choice so thought I would try this one next.  We will meet once a month to see techniques demonstrated/taught and there may be a "sew-in" once a month as well if there is enough interest.

The first thing I am doing is deciding on a color scheme.  With the club we have a choice of receiving a packet of reproduction fabrics or bright fabrics each month to incorporate (or not) into our quilt.  Anybody who knows me, knows I selected the bright option - oh yes!

However, I am not sure I want to do a completely scrappy, bright quilt.  I may use the fabric we are given in practice pieces or other projects.  I am just not sure yet.  I have developed a plan to use grays, purple/lavenders, and mustardy-yellows.  I think I will use gray as the background and probably the sashing for the blocks and use the purple and yellow shades in the block patterns.  I will likely mix in a different bright color or two as I go as well.

The club does not start until the second week of October, so I may come up with 10 more designs before I finalize my decision!  I really like this idea, though!

There's still time to sign up if you're in the Northern Virginia and Warrenton areas. There are three sessions you can join, two on Thursdays and one on Saturdays the second week of the month.

Update!  I changed my mind from the lavendar/yellow scheme below.  I am going to use the bright colors provided each month along with embroidery pieces, similar to what I am doing in the Dixie Diary BOM.  I think this will be really cool, and I won't have to buy any more fabric for it.  Except, of course, for the background and sashing.


Here's my tentative plan for use of colors:

I will probably use a purple instead of the black for the center cross. Or a medium gray.  Or not.

Dixie Diary - Month 9 - The Hands of Strangers

This month we read about how difficult it was to know someone else was in your house using your things and knowing you could not do a thing about it and would not get back.  So Barbara Brackman split the center square of the block "to represent the break in the Morgan family life."  It resonates a bit with me because I hate being in my grandparent's home town and not being able to sleep in that house - the one they lived in for 50 years, and I visited for over 40 years.  Sigh.  Time does march on.

I had a little trouble conceiving this block. After a couple of false starts I'm pleased with the end result:

I believe it blends nicely with the set so far:

Three more months to go.  I have planned my setting and have started working on it off and on.  Part of it will entail a bit of work, so I will be working on it from here on out so that I keep momentum to finish it once the final block is completed.

Here's a sneak peak: