March Scrappy Challenge

The block for March was a split 9 patch. simple, right? hahahahahahaha  think who is in charge here. hahahaha

Normally i've been making 10 blocks each month.....well, this month i have 16. all because i didn't pay attention ....what's new.....and cut the HSTs wrong. so i just re-cut those and made more blocks. so i have 16 for this month.  

Here are a few samples. they all pretty much look the same...the same fabrics used in all blocks....just in a different place...a few differences.

2 or 3 of them have this little witch. i just love her.

Perhaps next month will be just as easy and i can make just 10.  we'll see.

Thanks, Judy

Tell it To The Stars - March

Here is the blocks for March for the Tell it To The Stars quilt with JudyL at www.patchworktimes.com

We made 2 of them.  went together without a hitch.

Thanks, Judy and Vicki

Now i am going to work on this month's scrappy challenge block. 

I'm in the Ice Age

Mother Nature is on steroids or something. we got some ice yesterday and now some snow on top of that. being March means nothing. it is cold....zero degrees this morning at 6:30. the furnace is running...the wood stove is cranking out heat....and the portable heater is going in the bathroom. and it is still cold in this house. and i am not usually cold....i'm the person running around in shorts all year long. not this winter. brrrr!

There is no studio time going on these days. the quilt on the frame has been there for a month. but i am about half finished with it....so some day...hopefully soon....i can get back to it. 

I have spent the last week making crumb blocks....about 200 of them. i emptied the box that held all the itsy bitsy pieces. i figured that was 4 yards of fabric that i used up. need about 85 more of them to make a quilt.....it takes 500.....so it will be a bit before i can save more itsy bitsy pieces to make the other blocks. that will be my second crumb quilt. 

Here is what the first one looks like. it lives on my couch. 

just sew itsy bitsy pieces together until you get a 5" block. them make 500 of them. hahahahaha

Gonna go find something to sew to start my day.

Stay warm....wherever you are.

More Block Rockin' blocks

I have finished another couple of the Block Rockin' blocks....only 3 more to go and these are all finished. i want to set them differently in a top but not sure how.....gonna think on that.

Here is Morrison. I know there is a Van Morrison....i think there is another one, too...but can't think of it now.

And this one is called Penny Lane....i believe that is a Beatles tune, right?  

Three more blocks to go.....then the job of putting them all together into something cohesive.  any thoughts on the setting? i want something different.

Grandma's Country Album I

This is another Robert Callaham quilt that was published in McCall's Quilting magazine years ago. it is Album I because there is a II .... and that is the one i am going to be working on next. 

This is about 72" square and has his signature 2" square blocks for sashings. i think i cut about 600 2" squares. 

And he loves those star blocks...with the set in seams.

The blocks were all fused and then i appliqued them down.

He sure likes those little circles, too.  lots of grapes and circles in the tree.

This one was done in all cotton fabrics.

More of those little circles and hundreds of little leaves in here, too.

A lot of nice spots for quilting, too.

This block didn't want to lay flat so it will have to be quilted down ... a lot. you would think that with all the set in seams i have done lately that i would be able to do them well....but it is not to be. sigh!!

I put the date on the album book so i'll have a record of when i did this.

The border went pretty quickly....even with these 3D prairie points.

The red border is not as dark a red as i would like...but it is the only red i had left that was enough for the border. some of this red was used in the body of the quilt, too, so i think it will be ok.

There is one more Robert Callaham quilt that i have left to do. it is the Album II.  i am going to do that one in wool felt. and i think i will use feedsacks for the background fabric. it has been fun to finish his quilts, but i will be ready to move on to another designer when i am finished with the next one. hahaha  i need a rest from set in seams and little tiny leaves and circles.

The to-be-quilted cabinet is now full so this will be the second quilt top in another cabinet. 

I did go over today and quilt for a couple hours on the quilt that is now on my frame. so, hopefully that one will be done within the week and i can start whipping out some of these quilts. it is getting pitiful to have 100 tops to be quilted. 

Farm Country

Yesterday i finished the last of 20 cute embroidered blocks from a CD by Anita Goodesign called Farm.Country Quilt. the blocks stitch out at 8".  there are 2 lines of stitching around the blocks to guide you in trimming them down to fit perfectly in your quilt.

Here is the whole top.

And some close-ups. 

At first i found it a bit strange that some of the blocks had pics of animals blown up to block size. but half of them were like that and it looks ok in the quilt.

It's amazing how the picture develops. the embroidery machine is just stitching scribbles.....and it comes out a lovely picture. their digitizers are great. 

Every picture depicts a farm somewhere that you recognize. 

I used a dark maroon colored thread and used a whole spool.

I think this is the first large animal block that i did and was a bit creeped out by the large rabbit. hahahaha

One more top squished into the to-be-quilted cabinet. there MIGHT be room for one more small quilt. i have already started putting more in another cabinet. i really, really need to get to quilting.

Wanna come over and quilt for me? hahahaha

Pieceful Paisley .... a JoAnn's kit

A couple of months ago...when i was at the Duck....and got stuck in the snow storm....i stayed at my sister's for a couple days before i could get back home. i needed something to do so i went to JoAnn's to find a project. i had wanted to try hand piecing blocks for a quilt. so, i found this kit....leftovers from the previous year. but all the blocks and the setting kit were there, so i got it.

I hand pieced 3 blocks, the Windmill, the Log Cabin, and the Churn Dash. Then i decided....ok, i can do this if i want to....and it will look good...but if i don't want to take it with me when i die...then i better finish it by machine. so, here it is.

It is 82 x 100"..a nice size.  it is not the colors that i would have chosen, but it grew on me as i worked on it and now i like it.

Some blocks were applique and some just pieced.

This is the windmill....the first one i hand pieced.

And i hand pieced this log cabin.

This one is called Windowpane

I would not have finished the borders as they did.....but since it was a kit and all parts were already cut out...i didn't have much choice. i like the colored blocks border....they are 5" blocks. and i like the wide sashings....they are 5" also.  then they put that narrow 3 1/2" final floral border on there. that is the part i don't like. at least it should have been much wider.....or a different fabric all together...maybe one of those dark browns...or the orange.

But...like i say....done is good. and now i can say i have pieced a JoAnn's kit. woopee!! and i got it for 40% off ..... all good.