Blue Blocks

It's finished! Or should I say the TOP is finished! This one is being sent off to Jill for finishing, then back here for the final binding.

Except for about 2 yards of white - this quilt was entirely from stash - FQ's, fabric bought for a reason and never used, leftover bits from other projects, and a few "hand me down" pieces. It's got some turtles for Mommy, some crabs for Gramma, and lots of "little boy blue."

So just for a last comparison - this was the original pattern and layout as published by the designer - using marbled fabrics with no strong prints. I think she said there were 12 different fabrics used in this. I lost count of how many I used - but I had fun!!! And the best part is that my son already loves it!

Down and Dirty Dozen

I finished up the last three blocks on the block of the month project this week - two at the start of the week, and the last one this afternoon (they are the last three on the bottom row). I also managed to finish up the sashing and cut most of the blocks for the borders.

Tomorrow (or later tonight) I hope to get a bit of sashing assembled to the blocks, and to the initial layout. I don't think I am going to lay this one out in the order the designer intended - but then again I used a mishmash of fabrics where her fabrics were more controlled and she did the brainwork of keeping things from bunching up.

I like these blocks - especially #4 and #11 - I may use those again in another project. For now I just need to get this one together and see how wild it really is. I think the preponderance of white and the use of only ONE fabric in the sashing rectangles will settle things down a bit.

And then there were 9

The block of the month quilt I am making for the Munchkin is progressing quite slowly... although I have yet to hit the one-year mark in the project. I started off with a 6 block spurt, and then kind of got sidetracked with some other projects. (what - don't tell me you've never gotten sidetracked???!!! LOL!)

My hope is to finish up the blocks in the next week or so - and then tackle the pieced sashing. I don't think that will take very long once I get going, but we shall see. Ideally this quilt would be pieced and sent off for quilting and be back by the Munchkin's birthday in February - but I am not going to make myself (or Jill) crazy if that does not happen, either.

It's been one of those things that I need to have the mental energy to work on because of the fabric choices, varied instructions for each block, and cutting requirements.

Today all those things came together - however briefly - and I was able to get block 9 cut and assembled. I love this crabby fabric - it is leftovers from some fabric that Lazy Sister Sue and I used for a project for Mom - in a different colorway. I think I have used the blue colorway in 2 other blocks in this quilt, but this is the first block that uses the green crabbies.

The yellow is fun, too - it was the backing from a charity quilt I did last March - Scotch Squares. I don't have a good photo of this one with the backing - but it is a tone on tone pale yellow spotted fabric and really worked nice with the oranges and teals of the Hello Betty fabric line.

I really have not told the Munchkin much about the quilt - but today he saw the block as I brought it downstairs for pictures.

"Is this a new placemat?" he asked. Funny kid - this is the same kid who this morning called breakfast "four patch waffles."

Truly a quilt-worthy kid!

Little accomplishments

I was AWOL the better part of November, preparing for a craft show. It went well, and now it is over and I can set my sights on finishing up what I hoped to finish by the end of the year. Some things are Christmas gifts, some are not.

Today I finished up a quilt that is a gift for a friend "just because" - it just so happens that it will be sent off around Christmas. Since it is a surprise (well -the person knows they are getting a quilt, just not what it looks like) -I will just show you a little tiny peek...


OK - that's it.
Today I finished the top by adding the borders and was able to set it aside and work on another project - finishing up the Block of the Month for the Munchkin. Tonight I got two more blocks done on that - bringing me to 8 of 12... and after that I will still need to piece the sashing and borders. This will probably be a birthday quilt for his 5th birthday in February.

I struggled a bit with block 8 -block 7 went together nicely. I am doing this scrappily, so the most time consuming part of each block is picking the fabrics and making sure I have enough to do the block. The sashing and pieced border are supposed to come from these same fabrics, and you cut them as you go along. I have not had large enough pieces to be able to do that for all the fabrics, and will supplement with more scraps for the borders when I get to that point. It is using up a lot of odds and ends though - which is really fun. The truth will be when I lay it all out and see what the overall crazy effect is! I think all the white in the outer part of the blocks and in the sashing will really tie it all together.


And since I have not posted a picture of my boys in a while - here's the Munchkin and Hubby with the first batting lesson!!!

Halfway there...

This block was a bit more challenging for a few reasons.

The first being that I am getting to the end of some of my fabrics - I had a few different ones in mind for this block, but the remaining pieces were just not large enough.

Even the crab fabric was problematic - I did not have a big enough piece to cut a square and sub cut it into 4 triangles - so I ended up making a triangle template and cutting the pieces out of odds and ends of scraps in order to get enough for this bock. It gave me a few problematic edges that I had to be careful with - but I think I got it ok.

The other challenge was sewing two angled pieces on either side of a triangle and having the entire strip come out even. I am not sure if there is a trick to doing that consistently accurately. I guessed -and 3 of the 4 turned out well -one was a bit wonky. If anyone has some tips on that one - let me know - because I think there are a few more of those lurking in this quilt.

"go"

This was block #5, and when digging through my scraps and composing the colors for this block, the yellow and green reminded me of something I had encountered while living in Japan - something called the shoshinsha. Since this quilt is becoming bits and pieces of "history" I thought that would be a fun and subtle way to include "Japan" in this quilt.

Of course some things are so subtle that I'm the only one who gets them.

Oh well.

The blue bubbles - if I remember correctly - are also found in DragonBen's baby quilt.

(BTW - this is block #5 - and "go" is Japanese for "five"... yeah - geeky me)

Block and roll...

These blocks work up so quickly and easily that I can't stop...
Of course I am getting very little done on other projects right now.

First Block of March...

Hubby and I had a date night on Friday (go RIT Hockey!) and a birthday dinner at Hubby's folks yesterday (Happy Birthday, Sweetie), so I have been out of the sewing room for a couple of days.

Here's block #3 - I'm convinced now that Lazy Sister Sue picked this BOM for me to participate in because of all the triangles!!! I have normally avoided them - don't like cutting them - don't like sewing them -I tend to get them all wonky and twisted.

Well - maybe it is this pattern - or maybe just more experience -but I am doing better with these.

Only 9 more to go - and block #9 got posted today! Woo Hoo!!!!

Block of the "day"???

One advantage to coming into this "Block of the Month" series when it was over half published is that I don't have to wait so long for the next block. I am being "good" -and trying to do these in order - and to limit myself to one per sewing session. Block #9 comes out in March, which is only a few days away - but then it is a long wait for April, May and June... Possibly another reason why I have not done one of these before? I have never been known for my patience.

I found the 2nd block easier than the first - perhaps because there were similar elements in the construction that were easier the 2nd time around - and because a color plan - albeit a loosely developed one -is starting to come together out of my assortment of scraps and FQ's and odds and ends.

Today's block is called "Lincoln Logs" - but somehow I don't thing they have many crabs in Illinois? Hmmm -maybe "Crab Rolls" instead???

And this block again illustrates why I enjoy the scrappy quilts -the crabs were from a project Lazy Sister Sue and I did for Mom, the yellow is in both a quilt for DragonBen and in one for BIL ScouterMark, and the WOW is leftover from a special project to be named later that I just finished but can't share with the world yet...

All these little bits will make this a really special quilt for the Munchkin!

Block of the Month

Lazy Sister Sue talked me into a Block of the Month project that her quilt guild in South Carolina is doing. Even though I can't share with them in person, she and I thought it would be fun for me to "play along."

Believe it or not - this is the first BOM quilt I have ever made - I have looked at these types of projects before, but just was not at that stage in my quilting to get one going. This time the timing just felt right.

As much as I like the fabric set used for this pattern, I really could not justify buying more fabrics and I had decided to do this quilt all out of my scraps - and had some more feminine fabrics in mind - mostly rose, pink and green. Unfortunately there just was not enough of them.

Then my eye lit on to my teal/aqua/blues/greens and a few yellows/batiks. There is enough fabric there - and I thought it would make a fun quilt for the Munchkin (plus use some of my Turtle fabrics).

This was Block 1.

I am not sure I entirely enjoy the BOM concept - I am a "cut the whole quilt out at once" kind of gal, and this cutting bit by bit, every block different, keeping track of which block gets which pieces and having pieces leftover for the borders is a bit frustrating for me - especially since I am substituting such different fabrics from the original. In this block I really should have looked for a bit more contrast between the big triangles (this is the block in the top left of the full quilt shown above) - but I still think it will work in the overall scheme of things (and the turtles from the "splat" fabric got fussy cut to show up in the outer borders).

The other thing about BOM's is the waiting - luckily for me Lazy Sister Sue told me about this particular project when Nancy Rink already had 7 months worth posted -now she has 8 - so I really won't have to wait long. They are also nice BIG blocks (12" finished) so this quilt will be a good size and go together fairly quickly.