Design Floor Monday

It took all of Saturday to get OMG It's  a Churn Dash ironed and ready for borders.

After auditioning several options, I decided on pink and teal.  There was enough pink for a thin inner border, but nothing with enough yardage for a wide outer border.  Off to the fabric store!

First though, I pulled some backing options.  All the new fabric has been through the wash now and after a bit more time with the iron, I'll be down on hands and knees again for the rest of borders and backings.  

Happy Martin Luther King day!  So happy to have an extra weekend day to play.  

Design Floor on Monday January 18, 2016

Blue quilts and blocks have taken over my floor.  On the right are the square root of nine blocks in dark and light blue.  On the left is a leftover pinwheel quilt with a border of extra star points from an abandoned mystery quilt.  

I got up first thing this morning and put the binding on Dear Jane.  She has been in the hand quilting process for many a year.  

This one just needs backing fabric.  Fortunately I have an entire extra day to work on whatever my heart desires.  Now I just have to figure out what that is.  

Design Wall Monday January 4, 2016

 Dear Jane has come out to play again.  When the center blocks were sewed together in July of 2014, only 16 border triangles had made it to completion.  As of today, that number has grown to 19!  Top row 13 was simplified slightly, but I like it quite a bit this way.

 Top row 1 was quite fiddly, I hope all those odd angled seams end up in the allowance along the edges.

 Top row 6 was straight forward enough, though the center diamond isn't quite in the center.

And so the design wall has been converted to help organize the blocks while I try to finish off the last 33  blocks so that this quilt can finally see a finish.  I was debating whether to use colored fabric or white between the border triangles.  Now that I see it on the wall, I can't help thinking that the colors are just too much.  Maybe I can do a bit of applique in the white triangles instead?  Or perhaps some fancy quilting.  Still plenty of time to ponder the final design.

I've been watching as people choose a word of the year and couldn't help but think about what my word might be.  The word momentum popped into my head.  Hopefully I can keep forward motion going and follow through on some of the things that I have started.  

Design Wall Monday November 23, 2015

It is that time of year when the list of quilts that can get finished this year gets separated from the list of projects getting carried over to next year.  Orange peels are ready to be finished off.  I just prepped enough to sew up over the holiday weekend.  Farmer's Wife will definitely carry over.  Then there are the two new patterns I am trying out for next year.  Missouri Puzzle is the big teal block and I framed out one of the leftover nine patches.  A motley assortment for sure, but progress is being made.   

Design Wall Monday November 9, 2015

As the end of the year starts for feel real, I am taking stock and trying to figure out what will be done this year, and what will not.  I can't help but to think about new projects for the new year, but first some of these ongoing quilts had better see their last stitches.  

 The Giant Postage Stamp blocks are loaded on the quilting frame and sure to be done sooner rather than later.

 These orange peel blocks are well within reach.  I have plenty of blocks prepped and ready to applique.

The Sawtooth Star Sampler is oh so close!  I have teardrops ready to applique down.  That shouldn't take too long.  

I'm not sure how many of the postage stamp star blocks I have.  I should figure that out I suppose.  The Farmer's Wife blocks are just getting started, so those are sure to carry over.  Yikes!  That is a lot of irons in the fire. 

Design Wall Monday July 20, 2015

 I pulled out my giant postage stamp block so that I could put on the borders, but there was no white fabric to be found.  How could I be out of white fabric?  I searched high and low and managed to find lots of lost things, but not any Kona white.

Instead I worked ahead on the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2015 Sawtooth Star Sampler Quilt.  Rows 2 and 3 are completely done.  Row 7 is so close, but still missing just a few connector  blocks.  Now all I have to do is schedule the August blocks to post while I am in Costa Rica.  Oh my, so much to do in the next two weeks.  Head over to Patchworktimes to see what other quilters have up on their design walls today.
Today was a work day for me.  I wasn't planing on doing too much training this summer, but I was asked specifically to sign up for this biology workshop on neuroscience.  We made a cockroach leg dance to the song Sexy and I Know It.  It would sound more official if I said that we explored the electrical nature of nervous impulses, but it was pretty fun.  Tomorrow we have to make lesson plans to apply what we learned today.  After that I'd better finish getting lesson plans set up for the first week of school.  

Design Wall Monday - July 13, 2015

With Mai Tai Sunrise Done and Miranda's t-shirt quilt ready to be quilted, Anna wanted to know when I would get back to her t-shirt quilt.  This was her original plan when we started.  

This is how far we got before my Mom got sick and we put it away. I'll load up Miranda's quilt first, but when I need a break, I'll keep chipping away on Anna's quilt.  Somewhere I still have the fabric she picked out.  I think it has owls on it.  Every time she sees it, she reminds me that her quilt isn't done yet.  

Design Wall Monday - Sawtooth Sampler

I've fallen a bit behind on the alternate blocks for my Sawtooth Sampler.  So I started filling in the extra bits, and it is starting to look more like a quilt.  

 These blocks go together really quickly.  Just a combination of 2.5 and 4.5 inch squares.

 The 2.5 inch squares get combined to make two patches.

 And then four patches.  Four in dark and light and one in just darks.

 Here they are in a simple X formation.  Each block combines the colors of the adjacent blocks to help transition from color to color.  I have finished the blues, light blues, greens and yellows so far.  The purples are cut and ready, but I ran out of time.  Soon I will get back to them.  What do you have on your design wall this Monday?  Head over to Patchwork Times to see what everyone else was up to on the holiday weekend.

Design Wall Monday June 29, 2015

 It's been a while since I put the churn dashes up on the wall.  The wall isn't big enough though, and I needed to know how many of each to make.

So I sat down with some graph paper and colored pencils and started counting.  I will need 400 blocks, so far I have about 150 completed.  Now that I have a plan, I can keep going without having to do another big display.  So my design wall today is more virtual than tangible, but extremely useful nonetheless.  I am linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times, so be sure to go see what everyone else has up on their design walls today.
I spent most of the morning helping Anna to finish painting her room.  Now that it is reassembled, I will enjoy some sewing time this afternoon.  Our neighbors son is in town for a visit and he will be be bringing his family over for an afternoon swim, but other than that, it should be a pretty calm afternoon.  This might just be our only week of uninterrupted summer vacation and we are trying to enjoy every minute.  I gave each of the kids a day and asked them to play something special they wanted to do.  Ryan wants to go to Taco Bell for Dorito Loco Tacos on Tuesday.  Sydney wants to stay up all night watching movies and eating popcorn on Wednesday.  Anna wants to have a home version of cupcake wars with Sydney on Friday.  That just leaves Thursday, I think I will take the gang out to see Jurassic World.  Soaking up every minute of summer!  

Design Wall Monday May 24, 2015

 It's been ages since I posted on Design Wall Monday.  Darn job keeps getting in the way of my sewing!  Just 5 more days of school though, so sewing time should be plentiful in the near future.  Yesterday I worked on the OMG blocks.  I didn't actually complete any new blocks, but there are lots of pieces in the pipeline.  I decided to go ahead and put everything up on the wall to see where I need to focus my energies.  So far nothing in the red or blue area has made it all the way to the wall.  That goes on the list for today.

Also for today is to work on some alternate blocks for my RSC15 Sawtooth Sampler.  These 12 inch blocks seem absolutely giant next to the itty bitty OMG with 9 patches made from 1 inch strips.  For Memorial day, Kurt put a pork butt on the grill overnight and Anna has invited River's family over to eat with us.  I'll try to convince the kids to bring swimsuits and entertain themselves in the pool.  First though, I think I can spare a little bit more time for the sewing room.  

Design Wall Monday March 16, 2015

 I got some milkweed at a butterfly garden session while I was at my science teacher convention earlier this year.  Look who moved in!  Aren't they sweet?  7 caterpillars are munching away at the leaves.

 How do you stop a quilter dead in her tracks?  Break her iron of course.  My iron has been temperamental lately, but yesterday after getting back from a meeting for school, I was so sad to find that my iron was completely dead.  So sad!  I think I can get a new one on my way home from academic team tonight.

So sadly, there were no more yellow blocks to add to my design wall, though many are in progress.  What's on your design wall today? 

New York Beauty Block 4

 The girls wanted to go to Joann's this morning.  They are working on Christmas gifts for one another and needed some supplies.  Can you believe that I went to a fabric store and came home empty handed?   I actually need to get some Kona Cotton slightly darker than silver grey to bind the Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler Quilt 2014, but I didn't feel like waiting in the Sunday cutting line for just that.  We did get lunch out though, so it wasn't a wasted trip for me.

 I came home anxious to try out another New York Beauty Block.  Curved piecing was not my friend on the last block, and I was determined to do better this time.  So the pattern is drawn out on freezer paper, which is big and cheap and even ironable.  I drew arcs at 10, 8 and 6 inches for this block and inserted wedges into the inner arc that alternated between 5 and 10 degrees.  I bought a fancy new compass to try out, but it didn't come with instructions and I couldn't figure out how to use it.  True story!
Edited to add: I did a search and found some instructions for how to use an extension bar on a bow compass like the one I bought at Hobby Lobby.  I like the keep track of things like that in case I ever want to know later.  So I'm off to try the next block with my fancy new tools.  
So I used the easy and cheap pencil on a string method again.  Worked flawlessly.
The fabrics for this quilt are a batiks mixed in with hand dyed fabrics from Vicki Welsh that I have been hoarding for too long waiting for inspiration.  For this block, I pulled the oranges from color wheel packs in light medium and dark.

 I traced the wedge segments roughly onto freezer paper and added a quarter inch all around for seam allowances.  I didn't cut the shapes exactly, but at least I wanted to know that they were at least big enough to fit.

 The pieced arc was paper pieced, but the other three pieces were just ironed onto the freezer paper and trimmed with a extra quarter inch on the edges for seam allowances.  I also left an extra quarter inch outside for "just in case"

 So I am starting to realize, that although curved seams don't fit together when the pieces are placed right sides together on a flat table, they do match up nicely in 3 dimensional space.  So I worked with curving the pieces and pinning first in the middle, then on each end, and dividing each segment in half again until everything seemed secure.

 So it looks like about 8 pins for the dark orange arc.  I know some people are able to do this without pins, but this is what worked for me.

 Here is the finished block.  TaDa!

And here are the first 4 blocks on the design wall.  Keep in mind they won't go together like this.  

Hopefully more like this when 12 blocks have been sewn.  I'm 25% of the way there. Pretty good start, right?  By the time I get to the end I might even get good at curved seams!

Design Wall Monday October 20, 2014

I am almost done with the Mai Tai Sunrise blocks.  Almost.  I have extras of framed nine patches, but it looks like I still need 5 more star blocks.  First I'd better get these picked up off the floor before the dog scrambles them though.  Each block is 7.5 inches, so this should be a nice twin sized quilt when it is done.  This is a Bonnie Hunter Pattern from Quiltmaker magazine.  Though, I also saw the star block in a Nickel Quilts book as well.  I didn't use nickel squares, I used 2 inch strips and easy and companion angle rulers.  These blocks have been Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks for about a year and a half I think, so it will feel great to get them finished off and sewn together.  Hopefully before the new mystery starts after Thanksgiving.

 Most of my sewing time this weekend was spent painting the girls bathroom, so not much was accomplished on the quilting front.

 The bathroom is now a cool and creamy shade of teal that reminds me of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

This is the fabric that they have chosen for curtains and shower curtains.  So no quilts on the horizon quite yet, but the sewing machine will get some action in any case.  I'm linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times, so feel free to head over and see what else is on design walls this week.

Design Wall Monday - June 16, 2014

 I worked a bit this week on making some churn dash blocks to go with the baby nine patches that have been in the works for a couple of years now.  The entire block comes from just a light and dark 2 inch strip which makes planning pretty easy.

Speaking of planning, I was starting to think about the math for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler Quilt.  The colors are going to be in diagonal stripes and ROYGBIV order.  I'm about halfway done with the quilt, and also halfway done with the year, so I think it will all work out.
Be sure to visit Judy's Blog to see what everyone else has on their design wall today.

Design Wall Monday June 9, 2014

Happy Monday!  I am so much enjoying summer vacation!  There have not been many days to stay home and enjoy sewing just yet, but today is going to be one of those days!  Up early to lift, came home and trimmed some trees and scrubbed some grout, but now I am ready to settle down and sew the borders on this Broken Dishes Quilt.  These were all bonus squares from flip and sew triangles.  All of them!  It makes me happy to make an entire quilt out of the little bits that most people would just throw out.  So here are two possible greens for the border.  What do you think?  Dark or light?  These are fresh out of the laundry from prewashing, so I'll go get them ironed while pondering the options.  Hope you are enjoying your Monday and taking some time to visit other Design Wall Monday posts at Judy's Blog.  

Design Wall Monday May 26 - Postage Stamps

 I can't remember the  last time I joined in to Design Wall Monday!  The school year has really taken a bite out of my quilting time.  It is  three day weekend though with only 3 school days to go.  I can see lots of sewing in my very near future!  First on the list are these postage stamp blocks.  They've been in the background for a while now coming out to play on ScrapHappy Saturdays for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I'm not sure that I will have enough of yellow and orange.  I'm thinking of letting them share a row.  I'll get the others sashed up though and start to do some measurements.  Each block ends up at 16 inches -- maybe I should scale back the number of blocks.

Getting Jamestown Landing ready to quilt is next on the list.  It has been waiting patiently for its turn on the quilting frame.  I'm thinking of some nice freehand swirlies in a dark cream thread.  I will of course find some time to spend with the family too.  They have been so patient to let me sew for the last couple of days.  It has been wonderful, but real life calls and chores need to be done.  

Design Wall Monday

It is an unexpected three day weekend due to the flu.  Kurt was SO sick all weekend, I was honestly looking forward to leaving him home and escaping to work.  First thing this morning though, Sydney started hacking and was feverish and headachy.  I didn't think Kurt could keep track of her in his current state, so I went in to school to get things set up for a sub.  It was a movie day today as it turned out, so it will be an easy day for the sub.  Sydney is having some soup now and Kurt is comatose on the couch.  I will head off for a few minutes of work on the anniversary quilt.  I got a few more photo blocks appliquéd during the Superbowl last night, but I think I will need a few more light colored blocks and then some more of the brown from the outer border.  It will be a treat to be able to visit Judy's Design Wall Monday.  I'm usually off at work and too busy to remember.