Making Progress.....

In spite of a weekend where I spent half of my time in the hospital, I was able to make progress on several projects.

The London tea towel quilt top is now together and waiting for it to tell me what it wants for a border.

I also put together two quilt tops for Sunshine that started with orphan blocks.   All of fabric and/or blocks came from stash.  =)


Gratitudes:
1. Being able to sleep in my bed again without coughing like a mad woman.

2. Knowing that my sleep patterns will eventually get back to normal after all the hoopla.

New project under way

I was sorting though a couple of totes this week, one with UFO blocks which I sorted through and pulled a bunch that no longer inspired me.   They will be sent to a friend who makes a lot of donation quilts.  In the second tote I found a bunch of precut squares of all types, those are still there with plans yet to be made for them.  

The last baggie tho that I found was filled with a bunch of 3.5" orphan HST blocks and more of the focus fabric that they had been made from.   The focus fabric is a red/white/blue print that I had leftover from a previous American Hero quilt.   After trolling through block patterns I had saved on my computer, I decided to use the Indiana Star block pattern as my block to use them up.  (The blocks in the pic to the right with the large red star.)  Finished blocks will be 18", so the quilt will be 54" by 72" before borders.   A good size for an American Hero quilt and only "12" blocks to make it.

After getting all made that I can from the fabric, I found that I'm 4 triangles short of being able to make 12 blocks for a quilt.....so at this point I've two options that I've come up with.

The first option is that I make 6 of the Indiana Star blocks and then the 6 alternate blocks as shown in the pic.   The second option is that I take and make all Indiana Star blocks, but change out the color of the small triangles in alternate blocks.

Am leaning towards the first option because I can see design possibilities for a pieced border with the extra blue triangles that I'd have after making the large blocks.  

Next step though is to find coordinating fabrics to make the large HST's and the alternate small HST's.

Gratitudes:
1. Am feeling good for the first time in over 6 months after my hospital stay over the weekend!  God is good!

2. DE training classes are half over.  =)

2015 Mystery Quilt, Step 4

There are two parts to this step -

First - Add a message to your quilt.

         Think creatively here - use words, pictures, a combination of the two or any other way to add a message of some sort.  Or maybe use a special piece of fabric that says what you'd like to say.  Give yourself permission to experiment and try something new if needed here.

Second - Add 3 small or medium sized circles to adjacent blocks.

Remember above all to have fun with what you add to your quilt!

UFO Weekend - Tea Towel Quilt and Swap Block Progress

This weekend was the UFO weekend for one of my online groups and I chose to work on my London Tea Towel quilt.    It has been waiting patiently for me to finish the final few blocks needed to fill the holes in it and put it together.    Didn't quite get it all together, but only have the top row of blocks to go and the top will be together.

Made two blocks to fill in holes - top one uses more of the fabric that I bought in London when I was there in 1997.   The flying geese uses pieces of the fabric that I was sent by a blog reader who lives in London.

After adding a few strips here and there of either a print fabric or one of the cream fabrics to fill-in gaps, I started sewing blocks together.    At this point all but the top row is together and everything attached together.

I still have one hole to fill.   Am debating between more flying geese, a checkerboard of squares,  Both of which would be on a cream tonal background.   Or perhaps playing around with either pinwheels or the London Roads quilt block to see what works.   Depending on the size of the pieces in whatever I do, I may try to use more of the scraps that were given to me.   What I don't use on the front will end up framing the lable on the back of the quilt when I make it.

Also still to be decided on is whether or not to put border on the quilt.   I'm leaning towards adding one as a 'frame' for the quilt but haven't decided anything yet.   Any ideas?

And the final project that I worked on this weekend was making three blocks for the Quilter's Garden swap that I've been  in.   The pair of blocks on the right side will be swapped.   Still need to hand-sew beads onto the top of the pins, but haven't dug out the beads I need yet.  The other two I will be keeping.   Still need to make the one block (quilt shop) that I did not get made to swap so i can have it in my wallhanging.

Gratitudes:
1. Feeling much better after 10 days on the antibiotic.
2. Heat in the house works well in the current frigid weather.

2015 Mystery Quilt, Step 3 Reveal

In making my version of the mystery quilt I'm having fun playing with the shape and scale of the pieces all the while doing what the rules say.

For this step I cut the two rectangles from the same piece of fabric, so that there is one large one and one small one.

The three triangles were cut using my 60 degree triangle ruler and use three different of the coordinating fabrics that I pulled.

The open area in the middle will be used for the next step.  =)

How is your quilt looking so far?   If you'd like to share a picture of it in progress use the link-up below.   I'd love to see pics of them.



 

2015 Mystery Quilt, Step 3

Step 3 Instructions for this year's mystery quilt:

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

1. Place any size triangles on three different blocks using three different coordinating fabrics.

2. Use the neutral you did not use in your block borders to add rectangles that connect two pairs of blocks together.

Notes:

* Remember that how you add the elements, the sizes of elements, and the colors are up to you.
Have fun with your design and quilt!

Snow day doings.....

Had a snow day for school today.   Yup, lots of time to make up coming up.  

But the day was a good one for my sewing.  =)   Got the binding onto the wallhanging and the tablerunner.   Will sew them down over the next week.

I also made two more blocks for my London quilt.   The block on the left is the symbol for the Tube, which I rode a lot while I was in London.  The block on the left is a London phone booth.  =)

I've been playing around with the layout, and here is what it looks like at the moment.    I'm sure I'll still be making changes to it as I work up fill-in blocks to complete it.

Gratitudes:

1. Have a plan to work with for treatment of the sinus infection

2. 14 more weeks of school left this year!

Progress....

Had a snow day today off from school.   So in between shoveling the last of the 12" of snow from the weekend, I was able to make progress on a couple of projects.

First I finished up the top for the topiary table runner and am happy with how it has turned out.   The top is now done and ready for quilting on my Kenmore.   Am hoping that that the person I'm planning on getting it likes it.  Am planning on binding it in a reddish brown like in the pot if I can find something that will work..   If not I think I have enought of the border fabric left that I could use that.

I also bordered out a crazy quilt block that I had been given a couple of years ago and am in process of finishing it up for a donation quilt for an art auction to raise funds for research into a rare disorder that a granddaughter of a good quilting friend has been diagnosed with.    This should be ready to be sent off by the end of the week hopefully.     Am using a combination of machine quilting (around the border edge) and hand quilting (around the patches) to quilt it.

Gratitudes:

1. For not having to go out into the snowstorm over the weekend.

2. For the protection that I'll have from God as I drive into work tomorrow morning.

Tea Towel Quilt Progress

Am finally making some progress on the London Tea Towel quilt.   Have made three more blocks and sewed one section of the quilt together so i can see how it is going to go together.

The first two blocks were made with pieces of fabric given to me by a gal in the London area.  She had seen my posts about this quilt and offered to send me some little scraps that she had.   Among them were these two guardsmen.  

Next up to be completed was a double decker bus.  The bus has a sign on it saying "I love London" and that fabric was also part of the scraps that I was give.   And just perfect for the bus.  =)

I've also sewn the first 4 blocks of the quilt together.   These will be in the bottom right hand corner of the quilt.    There are still areas of the quilt that i need to decide how I want to fill in, but I'm glad that it is finally taking shape.

Gratitudes;

1. I didn't have to go into work at the store today - a blessing with the snow storm here today.

2. I've been able to shovel snow w/o having a coughing attack while doing it.

2015 Mystery Quilt, Step 2 Picture

Here is my assembled top with the first addition (the circle) added to it.

Looking forward to seeing yours.