Week Four in Purple and Almost Ready for a New Colour

I have a few more stitches to take on my tumbling blocks to be finished my purple RSC projects for January.

Four lined up all in a now and only two more to add on.

I attended a beading workshop yesterday and now have a repertoire of  a few more stitches and this fun little bag which I started last year just might see a finish.

It will need a corded handle and should be perfect for an evening  out when I don't need to carry too, too much with me.

Hope you have been more productive than I have this week.  I'll be checking in with Angela to see what you have been up to.

A Perfect Sidekick

I struggled with getting the size just right for doing some tumbling block English paper piecing.  The pieces just didn't come together properly with my first effort.  A friend suggested downloading paper piecing patterns from the internet but I guess I didn't know how to use them properly because it didn't make things any easier and then I found this in among my rulers.

If I increased the size of the tumbling blocks to 1.5 inches from the 1 inch finish in the pattern. Sure my mini quilt would be bigger but still small enough to count as a mini.  So I used the Sidekick to cut my freezer paper diamonds.  I cut a 1.5 inch strip and cut out the 18 diamonds I needed for the purple tumbling blocks.

I cut the fabric strips 2.5 inches in width and  placed my ruler 3/8 of an inch from the bottom of the strip.  I used the ruler to line up the bottom of my templates.  I left a 3/4 inch space between templates and ended up with diamonds all ready to stitch into lovely purple tumbling blocks.

Linking up with RSC and checking in to see what other purple fun has been happening this week.

A Passion for Purple

Happy New Year to all!  I am hoping for a calmer 2017.  I had so many distractions and calls for my assistance with a number of different groups that my quilting time was greatly affected  in 2016.  To get off to a better start I decided to set a goal for myself so I could measure my success:  "Quilt every day for at least half an hour.  This could be looking for a pattern or fabric; planning a quilt, cutting or sewing.  Have a handwork project ready at all times - embroidery, beading or other embellishment, applique, binding, knitting."  I also looked at all the quilt tops hanging on hangers waiting to become a quilt sandwich and have identified twelve that I would like to finish this year.  

For the RSC I will work on two quilts I found in Quick and Easy Scrap Quilts compiled and edited by Patricia Wilens.  The first is called Cracker.  Here are the cracker blocks I finished in the RSC colour for January.

There's a lesson or two I learned when making these blocks. 

 #1 Always have good lighting when reading the instructions. 

 #2 If you're not sure if it's 1/4 or 3/4 wait until morning before trimming.

 

Yup, the trimming size was to 3/4 not 1/4.  I wondered after trimming and actually basted the blocks together  before realizing the 1/4 had to be wrong.  Thank goodness I only made 3 blocks and not all 12 purple blocks.  I've definitely been away from the machine too long to make such an error.

The second is Nine-Patch and Hourglass.

Here are the cute little nine patches for it.  I've made the hour glass blocks for this month too but didn't get a photo.

For my handwork project I've opted to make a mini from A Few of My Favourite Miniature Quilts  by Christine Meunier.  I'll have to cut our the diamonds to piece the tumbling blocks and hope to have something to share next week.

One of my quilt groups presented a challenge.  We were to show what happened when colours were mixed.  Here is my attempt to meet the challenge.  This miniature is an adaptation of the calendar quilt that was to serve as inspiration.  It measures about 24 inches square.  I enjoyed the process and if time allows I would like to try to make a smaller original one.

Now this has to be a finish so now it's time to think about how to quilt it.  This is another goal of mine this year - practicing my machine quilting.


So many plans and I'm keeping track of my commitment on a calendar in my sewing area - yes, old fashioned paper calendar so I can see.

Catching Up

It's been four months since I last blogged.  I just haven't done much in the  way of quilting.

A friend's son was headed off to university and he needed a quilt for his dorm room and that was inspiration enough to get me moving.  I don't have a picture of the finished quilt but here's the flimsy.

I went for a modern manly type of quilt - lots of big blocks of green and blue.  My friend, Mary, did the quilting on her long arm - closely spaced straight lines, both vertically, diagonally and horizontally.  It finished up beautifully.  I did an improvisational, scrappy construction for the backing and wouldn't you know it, he preferred the backing to the front of the quilt.  I'll have to get him to take a picture of it in his dorm room so I can share it.

That led to checking out the columns I made for the 2016 So Scrappy Challenge.  I wasn't very happy with the butterflies in purple and yellow so I remade them.

I like these so much better.  They are a lot less scrappy.

Then I finished up the teal and lime green blocks.

And the purple and grey blocks

And the rose and gold blocks

So now I'm all caught up.

Early in August I went on a quilt retreat with some quilting buddies. We brought along some charm squares and sashing in two shades of grey and came up with these rainbow like blocks based on the Paint Chips block found  in the latest 100 blocks magazine.  We had some extra blocks and included them as a column on the back.  The finished quilt has been donated to our Quilters'Guild Community Outreach and will be donated to the Sexual Assault Unit at our city hospital.

It's been slow getting back to quilting but I'll be participating in a few workshops in the next two months and my quilt groups are starting up again so hope to be blogging on a regular basis again.  

Going Green

It feels so good to be able to post again.  They say everything happens in threes and April certainly had it's share of bad luck.  First on April 11 my sister's car was hit by a young man who ran a red light.  Her car was a write off.  Then my computer crashed.  I had it repaired and it crashed again so had to go shopping for a new one.  Finally on April 21 my car was hit when a young man took a turn too quickly and lost control of his truck. The side air bags and curtain airbags deployed and the car was deemed to be a write off.  Visits to the doctor and chiropractor have both of us on the mend but all the calls to the insurance company and looking for a new vehicles have taken up so much time.

But now it's May.  My sister has her new car on the road and I finally got mine on Thursday.  My new computer has Windows 10 and I'm becoming acclimated to the new system.

Amid the turmoil I was able to get a few pieces done.

I finished up the April orange, black/brown blocks and the green and brown May blocks for the 2016 RSC quilt.  In selecting the fabrics for the Geese Blocks I decided to make the column look like chevrons and I think that turned out okay.

I've decided that it's time to make fewer large quilts and work on a few minis instead.

This one was fun to make and used up a few of the pink and brown scraps in my buckets.  (I must apologize for the photo but I haven't loaded photo shop on the new computer so what you see is what I snapped.)

I also made a few Maverick stars in orange for April and green for May.  There isn't enough difference in colour value on the green block so I may have to scrounge for a few darker brown scraps or some brighter green bits and try to make a few more.  

It's the long Victoria Day weekend in Canada and that means doing some gardening so I'm off to dig in the soil and put in some spring colour.  The tulips, grape hyacinth and donkey's ear were lovely but it's time to put in some annuals now that the threat of frost is gone.

Hop over to soscrappy and see what other green has sprouted.

No April Fool

Yesterday was April Fools' Day and I may have started the day like a little fool but thanks to friend Mary slowly learned a bit about thread painting birds.  Here's the start of a cute little nuthatch.

He needs a bit more highlighting, the tail needs a little more length and his beak is missing but he is beginning to look like a nuthatch.  Mary does some wonderful landscape pieces.  Check her out here.

March was a very busy month and I didn't get much quilting done but the purple butterflies are finished and because I was running short of time they were the traditional butterflies.  I have to check my 1/4 inch seams.  This column is a tad longer - that's what happens when you switch machines and don't check.  (Big sigh.)  Here are the columns finished so far.  I see I haven't fixed the little oopsy in the pink and brown column.  That'll get done this afternoon.  Can't leave it like that!

After a run to the library to pick up my book club set of books for April I'll be digging into the orange and brown/black scraps.  Angela's thinking of Monarch butterflies for colour inspiration this month.  Wonder what I can find to join the fun.

 

Ooh!  Almost forgot.  Thank you Angela for drawing my name for the March fabrics.  I'm so looking forward to adding to the stash.    I went to check the mail after picking up the books for book club and found this:

Isn't the fabric just beautiful!

Playing with the Butterfly Block

Angela selected the butterfly block for the March column by column quilt.  And I worried that the butterfly would look too chunky in a 6.5" square.

I experimented with modifying the butterfly block  and ended up with an wonky looking "x" block.  I was thinking I'd like to shorten the body of the butterfly a little to see if I liked that better.  I'm not finished playing yet.