Farm Friendliness or Color Revealed

One of my favorite categories in the juried exhibition at QuiltCon was the "Modern Traditionalism" catagory.  So many of us quilt precisely because it links us back to the history of women making beautiful objects, by hand, for family and friends.  And, yet, we are looking for a way to put our own stamp on this tradition.

One of the bees I am participating in this quarter is a "sampler" bee, so I went to my bookshelf and pulled out my favorite go-to block book:

The block I chose was the "Farm Friendliness" block, pictured here:

I made a couple of test blocks...only to realize I flipped the corner triangles---oops.

Ah, well, I decided I liked it that way anyhow.  Then I started playing with the way this layout could look depending on your value choices:

Version 3

Version 1

Version 2

Next, on to color choices. The drawings above provide layout for a twin sized quilt, consequently I needed to raid the stash for a color I had a LOT of...and here you have it.

While I chose fabrics, the monkeys played "bedtime":

Here you have the results of the cutting process.  That is 24 blocks, each comprised of 9 squares, 8 of which are seamed...so that is a grand total of....drumroll please...408 pieces!!!!!

The pile of chain-pieced rectangles...

With all this seaming and triangles, there are A LOT of places to screw up (if you are ME).  Needless to say, I was spouting a few expletives at one point last week.  After one row, I decided to take a break.  Here, is the beginnings anyway:

Forgive the light---there are not a lot of places in this 100-year old house to photograph something this big and I am just not trekking out in March snow (!!!) to pin it to the fence!  

Now...just 20 more to go!! What do you think?


Part of:


 

In with the New

I recently got interested in checking out the online quilting community that exists on Flickr.  I got accepted to a bee that asked us to do blocks that included some kind of hexagon.  Having done Amy Gibson's Block of the Month on Craftsy and with my local quilt guild, I had already experimented a little with English paper piecing and hand-sewing hexagons.  I looked for a way I could do this in an improv fashion and still get some hand-sewing in---great for doing while catching up on episodes of Mad Men...

Here is what I came up with:

We were given each person's color choices and then asked to make the same block in each palette.

This was my first block and I was a little bothered that the hexagons came out a little wonky, but then I decided to embrace the imperfections and run with it.  In the end, I am pretty happy with how they turned out.

What do you think?

Here is another little hexagon project that will become a baby quilt.

I look forward to sharing all the blocks I receive when I get them. Getting mail is such a rare treat these days!!

Star Quilt with Spiderweb Blocks

Hi Sewing Enthusiasts!! 

I am finally ready to show off some progress, not completion mind you, but in my world, enough done to share!!  Remember back here when I posted about "a few of my favorite things"? Well, one of them was Craftsy, and the enormously fun Block of the Month (FREE, people, FREE) class taught my Amy Gibson of Stitchery Dickory Dock.   

One of my favorite blocks I made so far was the "Spiderweb" block, but I didn't entirely get the "spiderweb" part until... 

It always helps to have more hands...and pins

I showed the four blocks I had made with my Denyse Schmidt charm squares at my quilt guild meeting and my friend, Leslie (check her out here) said, "Put them all together, next to each other..." and what do you know?  A SPIDERWEB!    

Ok, so with this choice of fabrics, it is the "stars" that pop and not the "spiderweb," but you get the idea. I think I will make more of the red and white ones to see what happens when those go together.  

Front---almost done quilting and then to bind!

Back (pre-quilting)

My basting helpers

I decided to quilt-in-the-ditch in the center panels and then free-motion around the outside.

The stars really show up on the blue flannel back, which will be soft for the intended baby recipient.

And, last but not least, this is what happens to my back when I squat down during photo session...*sigh*  :)

Do you have quilting assistants?

xoxo
Nell