Scraps & stripes

I sewed all my scraps from Devon's quilt together into two blocks.

Then I put them in my "orphan" box because I have no clue what to do with them next.

For the "15 Minute Play" blog we have been challenged to "play" with stripes and dots for a couple of weeks.  I decided to start with stripes and do the dots second.  Once I got started I had trouble stopping.  There were FIVE blocks in progress!

Finally today I got all the pieces together in to just two blocks, tho' they are large blocks.

I will send these to Victoria when I also finish two "dots" blocks.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Lots of friendship at Larry's funeral
Fresh snow again this morning
Starting to prepare for Florida

Shades of White

I am part of the "15 Minute Play" blog and the SCRAP Bee that is a sub-group there.  Our instruction for March is to make 5.5" blocks of fabric in "shades of white".  We are allowed muslin tones as well, and there can be tiny drops of color.

I found that I don't have very much white-white any more, other than solid.  Maybe I'll cut and add more white to these.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Three IBOL boxes on their way to Iraq
Tree trimmers came and cleared the view of the lake
Devon's quilt is boxed, ready to mail March 1

Two finishes and something new

 Just before the Bee meeting on Thursday I finished the binding on my third neonatal quilt for the March collection.

I made the back from four FQs with some strips to make the whole thing large enough.

Right now it is in the wash.

Catherine had also quilted the Green Strips quilt with wavy lines and an occasional square or circle. It is light weight and is the right size for a nap quilt.

And for the "something new" --  I was asked to run a "Block Lotto" for our SpoolSpinners Bee.  At least I am going to organize the first time through.   I chose the FIREWORKS block.

So I spend yesterday afternoon writing up instructions.  And of course I had to make several more blocks to photograph some variations.

That was fun!

Sara

Gratitudes:

Jean took me to the women's brunch at Grace Church

Turkey dinner in February--lots for left-overs!

Symphony concert last night

Devon and football

Devon's quilt is quilted!  It was handed back to me at our Bee meeting last night.

Catherine did a great job making footballs in the gray open spaces.  And then she put stars in the red spaces.  Good idea, Catherine!

I had the binding ready, made from the same flannel as the backing, lots of helmets and footballs there.

Today I trimmed the quilt, applied the binding and then gave it a good wash and dry.

I hope Devon likes his name spelled out on the quilt as much as I do.

Final size: 44" x 75", bigger than Margaret's Hope Chest required, but he's turning 12, so a growing boy..



Sara

Gratitudes:

Bee members took 7 boxes to fill for IBOL
Devon's quilt ready to be mailed
Lots of snow has melted, wind howling

Neonatal Checkerboard

The "leaders/enders" 4-patches I made when on retreat and later, finally added up to 100.  That seemed to be enough to make a neonatal top.

It is now together with a narrow inner boarder and a wider outer border.  I hope to get it layered, quilted and bound before our Bee meeting tomorrow night.

Meanwhile I am struggling along on the Leaves quilt top.  I had decided to change out the background fabric in a few of the blocks as I was making them, and then I found that it meant the leaf shape wasn't all there.  I am now required to replace some already sewn triangles, which not an energizing activity.  I keep telling myself that it doesn't take as long to do ONE as I was imagining.  Which is true.  Trouble is there are several more than ONE.

Sara

Gratitudes:

I've been appointed to the township Parks Committee
Another fun play reading at Actors' last night
Breakfast with friends

Quilt Retreat, Sunday 2

I had taken along my Block Lotto winnings, thinking I would make a stab at putting them all together into a top.



So I laid them all out on my large table.  Then I  made a paper-pieced Amish house, also from the Block Lotto site, and snuck that into the forest.

Hmm, I realized that I had gotten lost in the paper-piecing process and made the roof purple instead of black.

So I fixed that and made another one of red against black.  I thought the paper-piecing was too FUTSY, and I made another with out the paper -- just liberated style with an idea and some sewing.  That's the green one.

I spent some more time moving blocks here and there, and there and here,  and I got tired of the whole thing.  So I packed it up and put it away.

Maybe I'll make TWO quilts, one with black backgrounds, and one with black foregrounds.

Maybe I'll make more trees.  I don't have many 12" ones.  And/or I'll add trees between the trees in the seam like 3 dimensional flying geese [you know that method?].

Maybe I'll put spacers between all o r some blocks. . . . it was too much to think about after a long retreat!

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Yesterday I quilted the wonky Disappearing 4-Patch by sewing on both sides of the block joining seams.  I then stitched in the ditch around the center 4-patch of each block.

Today I bound, labelled, washed and dried it.

This will go in the Guild collection for the neo-natal unit.  Will any parent want this for their child?  I like it, but will young, stressed parents?  Oh, well, they'll have plenty of choices among quilts.

This is my Finish #3 for 2011, and I also have participated in three exchanges of blocks.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Sunshine on the snow
Raisin/bran muffin for breakfast
Got Valentines in the mail!

Quilt Retreat, Sunday

Some years ago at a quilting retreat we all traded Fat Eighths of leaf patterned fabrics.  I soon decided that the thing to do with them was to make up Leaf blocks.  I analyzed this block and found that it was quite simple if I did it with a consistent background fabric for the alternate leaves.

I found a lovely tan leaf print and set to work.  And then I quit.  Who knows why?  I became just another UFO in a ziplock bag.

As I was packing for this retreat, I realized that the Lenten banner/quilt would need to be QUILTED before I could add embellishments.  So grabbed this Leaf Project to take its place.

On Sunday I put more of them together.  I now have fifteen blocks, and have used each of the fabrics at least once.

 Here is a first attempt at laying them out on the living room floor.  I will move them around some more and consider whether this is enough or whether I need a few more.  And I may have to replace a few of those triangles.

Throughout the last two retreats I have been joining 2" light and dark squares  as "leader/enders".  I currently have about 85 four-patches put together from these.  When I get to 100 I will be able to make a neonatal quilt from them.


Sara

Gratitudes:

Breakfast with my friends
"Disappearing Four Patch" picked up by other bloggers
Zeke making "dog angels" in the snow

Quilt Retreat, Friday/Saturday

I have a name of a boy who is turning 12 in March, named Devon, and he likes "football and red".    I thought a simple Snowball block would be easy to make up, but then I made it even simpler by only doing half the corners.  That makes the remaining "snowball" in the center look more like a football, you know!

Then I worked on using the remaining bits of red and gray into Devon's name at the top.

From cutting off the corners of the square blocks I had "bonus" HSTs, so I could make a little sawtooth border for the bottom border.  No side borders on this one.

[The backing and binding fabric has red and gray footballs and helmets printed all over it.]

Dropped this off at Catherine's Monday, so she can quilt it for me quickly.


Sara

Gratitudes:

Fun time with Bonnie Beute on the Retreat
Tonight a play reading at Actors' Theatre
Leftover chili for dinner

Quilt Retreat, Friday

Jacque's instruction were to take a four-patch, made from 4.5" squares, and cut one inch away from each of the seam lines, move the pieces around until you get the block on the right.

So I made four-patches for green.  and I started cutting and sewing them.

The sixth or seventh on came out a little wonky because I tried to make all the cuts without moving the cutting board.

I thought this was MORE interesting than making them all the same.

So I began cutting them MORE unevenly.  And that's what I did until I had enough.

Here's the top I brought home.  It does have borders on all sides!

Now I just need to find a backing , layer it, and quilt it.

Sara

Gratitudes:

No eye injection needed this time
Women's Chorus sang at funeral home for a  long-time supporter
Salmon for dinner

Retreat, Day One

Rumpledquiltkins' Retreat started last Thursday.  After all the packing and carrying and loading the car, and driving north an hour and a half, and unloading the car, and carrying, and unpacking, and organizing my work space .....I sat and stared at my sewing machine for a awhile.  Something EASY seemed the right thing to work on at that point.

My "monochromatic" green top was the ticket!  The two sections had somehow morphed into additional colors with green, so I added more strips of green in the middle.  Then I added some HSTs and hour-glasss blocks for a little visual POP.

At that point the top seemed big enough for a Nap Quilt, about 64" x 76", and the day was ending, so I called it finished.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Dry road surfaces for the trip
Lots of table space for working
Sleeping under "Extra Extra Fancy" for the first time

12" of Snow and Retreat

Sunday's view out the kitchen window.

Today's view out the kitchen window.  After the snow plow came.





Tomorrow I am driving 100 miles north to be on a quilting retreat for three and a half days.  What projects will I take to work on?

Trees from the Block Lotto exchange that I won.  I want to make a forest with a cabin or two in it.

Red and gray flannels for Devon's quilt need to be cut up and then re-assembled.

"Disappearing" four-patches need to be made and then cut apart and re-assembled to make a neonatal quilt.

"Lenten" banner/quilt to embellish with ?????



Is that enough?  Probably I'll also take some fabric "in case" I need something else.

I'll take my knitting also and work on the socks a little for a change of pace.

And some escapist novel.

And some chocolate.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Snow stopped and sun predicted for tomorrow's drive
Electricity stayed on
Favorite pizza for dinner
Charlie and Ray will do prep for the Super Bowl Party on Sunday