Year in Review

It's always fun to take a look back over the year to see what was accomplished.  I'm not sure if I shared some of these but thought it would be nice to see them altogether. 

I shared two little projects at the first guild meeting in January.  I made the hexie flowers as a little Christmas table topper and had fun with one of the guild groups putting together a crazy patch block. 

During the Past President's Mystery workshop I completed the flimsy using some of my lovely pink, aqua and purple fabrics.  This was my first stab at something that might be considered a little modern. 

The group that challenged me with the crazy patch block also challenged everyone to come up with a map.  I wasn't very creative with this one but did manage to put together a map of my backyard garden.  Don't you just love the cabbage trees?

       These little coasters and fabric boxes proved to be a fun diversion.

 

My second crack at modern quilts using a layer cake and some white fabrics.

A finished seven shirts quilt went to a good friend for his birthday.

Another little workshop finish.

A fun scrappy project using an old canvas bag I received as a workshop goody bag and some lovely teal scraps.

I picked up some orphan blocks and fabric from our guild's community outreach coordinator and put together this fun Cheshire Checkers quilt top

and this crumb block quilt top.

After collecting 30"s reproduction prints for several years I found a pattern that I thought would work to show them off.  Still needs borders.  After making this quilt top I think I might just have to go back to my original idea for the fabrics and make the boxy stars.  I think that will better suit the 30's reproduction prints.  This top is just a tad to modern for the fabrics.

 

It was also fun to try a few minis.

Making these Hallowe'en themed mug rugs was another fun diversion one afternoon.

I had a 2.5" charm pack and found the pattern for this cute little table topper.

Sewing this weave was a lot of fun.

One third of the Jelly Roll Race quilts one of my guild groups put together at retreat.

 A Guild Bee Day rolling waves flimsy.

A fun Quilt Along with Lori at Humble Quilts produced this cute little Cascadia Quilt.

The Temecula Quilt Co. hosted a quilt along for an alphabet quilt but I should have given more thought to colour selection instead of just going along with the colour of the month.  It needs a border and can be a little drag along quilt for a toddler.

I loved making the spool blocks during the RSC challenge and put them together to make a little wall hanging for the quilt studio.  Not quite finished but well on the way to being done.
And of course the RSC blocks were completed and sewn together into a quilt top that is awaiting quilting.

 

I had time to make two cute little mug rugs for Christmas.  Tea and cookies anyone?

 

Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion Mystery and leader ender lozenges are in the works and there are three patterns for scrappy quilts  waiting to be made.

2015 is just around the corner ...... What will it bring?  More finished projects I hope.

Cascadia Mystery Quilt Along

I used floral print scraps for my version of Cascadia Mystery Quilt Along. 

Thanks Lori for a fun little quilt along.  I made one small alteration to the instructions.  When I tried to piece the sections together I discovered that if I removed a row from the centre and side sections they would measure the same length as the Seminole patch section and I wouldn't have to add coping strips to the Seminole Patch sections.  Other than that Lori's instructions were so easy to follow.   I'll definitely try another of Lori's quilt alongs.

First December Post

I just can't believe how that flu/cold bug got me down... two weeks.  Nasty!  

But I've been out and about for the last couple of days and feeling better.  I did squeeze some quilting in.  I decided to make an extra bright red Boxy Star block for a total of 12.   I can either go crazy with the sashing and borders to make this a good sized quilt or continue this project into next year and make a quilt top using only Boxy Stars and a border.  I'll have to hope for some inspiration.  Any thoughts? 

I was also working on a little alphabet quilt along.  I really should have thought this out before and looked carefully through my stash for fabrics for each letter but I went along with the colour for the month and my own choice for December.  Here it is scrappy and done.

I've been looking at that "I"  and thinking I would have liked to make it differently. I may just have to make another with careful thought as to fabric and a slight change to "B" and "I".
The pictures aren't great.  I didn't photo shop them but it's been a full day and I just wanted to get this post out. 
I'm looking forward to the Scrappy Challenge for 2015.  Looks like Angela has more surprises in store for us.  I'll be checking out the other posts tomorrow.  Looks like and early night for me.

Last Weekend in November

I've been feeling under the weather for the better part of the week so haven't done as much quilting as I would have  liked. I did manage to finish up my little quilt along project and thought I could show it here as there is a fair amount of light blue in it.  I struggled with the fabric for the binding but finally found a piece in the scraps big enough to do the job.

I wanted to hand quilt this one but the pieces were so small - 1 inch finish- that my needle had to go through so many layers and my fingers just couldn't handle it.  So it went on the machine and it's a finish.   This little quilt is a reproduction of an antique quilt that Lori saw on ebay.

I started a second mystery quilt project with Bonnie Hunter, Grand Illusion,and hopefully will have part one finished by next Friday in time for the second clue.

There are 280  half square triangle to cut and sew and some yellow and black squares to add to make a broken dishes block.  I'll see if I make the full size quilt, 84" square, or a smaller version.  I'm tempted to start with only half the number and wait to see if I like the  quilt.  If I do I can go back and finish the rest of the blocks and biggie size it.

Cascadia Quiltalong Flimsy Done

This morning, Lori at Humble Quilts posted the final step in the Cascadia Quiltalong and I couldn't wait to get it done.  So after trimming the Seminole pieced sections (they straightened out beautifully when I did that) and removing one row from the strips the little quilt went together just perfectly.  Mine measures out at 17 x 17.5".  It's so cute and used up some of the little bits from the quilt I made for Community Outreach at our Bee Day.

Flimsy is Done!

The view out my back window is a winter wonderland.  I am so grateful that we live in an area not affected by lake effect snow.  Poor Buffalo! 

I leave the blossoms on my Hydrangea over the winter.  The brown blossoms add some lovely textural detail against the whiteness of the snow.  They looked like little snowballs earlier this week.




Now on to quilting.  I started sashing with the icy blue but I just wasn't loving it.  Some of the blocks were just a little under 6.5" and the columns of sashing just weren't lining up as they should.

So I tried cornerstones to continue the diagonal colour pattern.  Much nicer!  And I could fudge it to make the blocks and sashing line up perfectly.








Here's the finished flimsy.  I don't think it needs a border.  I'll just bind it with the same icy blue as the sashing.  Thanks Angela for providing this sew along RSC project. 










The last little bit of quilting I did this week was Clue 3 over at Humble Quilts.  All of my short little 1.5" bits are sewn together and I now have 5 units on the design wall.  Wonder what's next?

RSC Blocks

I started to sew the sashing strips on the RSC blocks but haven't gotten too far.

The first four rows have sashing between the blocks but not between the rows.  I opted for an 8 x 11 setting.  I like quilts that are longer.  The extra blocks will be a good start for a pieced backing.

As the colour for November is light blue, the sashing I've selected is an icy blue with silver stars.  I think the sashing will clear most of this fabric that's been around from a few Christmases ago.  Hopefully I will have some time Saturday evening to sew more sashing and decide on a border.  What has everyone else been up to with the RSC ?

Mid Week Report

I spent time yesterday going through my stash to find fabrics that I could use in  Bonnie Hunter's  Grand Illusion Winter Mystery. 

I may have to buy a little more yellow but otherwise I'm good to go.  The first clue goes up the end of November.  Woohoo!

I also got caught up with the little letters posted at Temecula Quilt Co.

I know the colours aren't great but I worked with the scraps I had out with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge so orange for September, brown for October and pale blue for November.  I broke the pattern with "T" and used some scrappy bits from the Comfort Quilt I made on Saturday.  I love the sewing notions for "Q" and the snowy covered branches for "S".  Wouldn't it have been great if I'd thought of this when I started and had fabric that told about the letters.  Next time.

Lori at Humble Quilts posted Clue number 2 for the Cascadia Quiltalong Mystery.

Lots of little 1.5" squares sewn together in various ways but I'm not sure where this will lead.  Any ideas?

Bee Day

Last Saturday our Quilters' Guild held the Annual Bee Day to jump start the Comfort Quilts Program for the 2014-15 Guild Season.  We gathered for 9:00 in the morning with machines and our Pot Luck Lunch contribution and set off to create as many quilt tops as we could.  Florals weren't very popular but I thought I might be able to stitch together a top where the floral patterns weren't too, too obvious.

These were my fabrics - a pink , yellow and cream colour pallet.  I also had some dark background floral fabric but opted not to use that.

Here's the quilt top I came up with:

rolling waves of colour on a sea of white.   I think it has a bit of a modern look to it.   If I had been really thinking about it I might have liked to have a wave of pink, wave of yellow and repeat both to create another rhythm in the top.  I might just have to try another and as I'm think of these as waves, perhaps I'll try them on a blue background.  Time to check out the stash for blue. 

Over at Humble Quilts Lori has started a new mystery quilt - Cascadia Quilt Along.  I've just finished the first clue using the scraps  from the Comfort Quilt above.  I also tossed in some of the darker background fabrics and a few HST I had lying around.  I'm waiting for clue number 2 to be posted on Wednesday.  The final quilt will be 17" x 19" so not a big investment of time and a great way to use up the little bits.

Week Two in Light Blue

It's been a busy week but I finally found time on Thursday to get caught up with the RSC blocks. 

Here's top row Twinkly Star and Zig Zag and bottom row Quarter Log Cabin and Road to Oklahoma.

I had a few problems with Double X but after I adjusted the size for Blue 2 it came together just right.

It was good to use up some of these blue fabrics.  The one in the bottom left corner had a 1994 copyright date on it. Can't believe it's been kicking around for 10 years and never used.  (I really am not a light blue person.)  I've played around with the arrangement of the Boxy Stars and to date have 11 blocks.  I need 12 but am having trouble deciding what to do.  What do you think?

If I keep this arrangement I need something to balance the dark purples.  Perhaps a dark gray?  That would mean shopping as I don't have many gray's.  I could move the blue one up beside the yellow and then make another bright coloured block.  What about a bright red?  The red one I made is very dark.  That would make two blues, two greens and two reds.  Hmmm?

Here's the Wonky Courthouse Steps.  I had to dig into the yellow collection again and used up a few of the old Robyn Pandolf fabrics.

And I whipped out the orange scraps to make an orange Zig Zag block.
Then I pulled out all of the blocks I've made to date and tried playing with several different arrangements.  What a challenge!  If I had a plan in advance it would have been a bit easier to determine how many of each colour but Angela selected the blocks for the month and the colours so replicating Angela's layout seemed the thing to do.

Here are all the blocks laid out.  Now all I have to do is figure out if I want sashing, corner stones, or just a border.  I know if I add sashing it will make piecing the quilt so much easier.  With the wide variety of blocks matching up seams will be a challenge.  How are you doing with your RSC projects?