What to do?



   Pictured above is a fabric challenge issued by my friend Sophie. She gave everyone in our sewing group one of these panels as part of our Christmas exchange. I've had this on my design wall for 2 months now and have no idea what I should do with it. I've considered a log cabin border -- maybe wonky? -- and also diamonds on point for another look. I want something Oriental-looking.

   I guess I'd better start researching some border books. Maybe something will "speak" to me.

Check out Design Wall Monday to see what other quilters are up to!

Design Wall, March 5

   It's really my design sewing table. I'm preparing the parts for a Jelly Roll 1600 quilt. Instead of joining the strips with a diagonal seam, I've decided to insert a 4-patch between them. Also, I've cut this from my stash, so I have fat quarter strips as well as width of fabric ones. I haven't seen that many 1600 quilts, so I don't know how this experiment will work. I love the  look of the black and white with the batiks. The questions is: how will it look when it's assembled? I'll know next week at Quilt Camp. We're going to have a "race" with prizes! It should be fun. The second picture, below, shows a jumble of the fabrics with the 4-patches added to one end. I'll sew them all together and then I'll be ready for the race!

    Quilt Camp is a twice-a-year getaway that I've been attending for 10 years. A group of 25-30 of us gather at a nearby church camp. Well it's near for me, a 30 minute drive. Some of the campers drive for three hours!

    It's a little different than many getaways in that we have to bring all our sewing gear, as well as bedding, bathing supplies and our food if we go early (I do). Because of all that, I try to start getting organized early. I'm planning to take five projects that I will work on, and additional fabrics in case I decide I want to do something different. Because I'm a scrap quilter, I always take a LOT of fabric.

    Texas Braid is packed up and ready to go. I'm to the point where I need to trim the edges and assemble the top. Then I'll decide about the border. I'm iffy on it. I think it will depend on its size.

I'm linking this to Design Wall Monday. http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/03/05/design-wall-monday-march-5-2012
(I know there's a neater way to do this butI don't know how.)

Jeanne

No sewing today

My design wall is the same as a week ago, but I’ve made progress on the Texas Braid quilt. It’s grown to 6 panels, and I’m laying out the next two braids and I’m planning to wait until Quilt Camp next month to lay it out and put the panels together. I’ll have more layout room there, plus almost unlimited time to sew. I’ll also decide about borders there, too. (The two “burrito” shapes behind the strips are panels five and six; the ones on the sewing table are seven and eight.)

In the meantime, I’ll concentrate this week on finishing the next two panels. I’ve already tested my planned border. It’s square on point, and should fit nicely with the braids, It will necessitate a lot more cutting, but I think the overall design will be worth it. As usual with my scrappy quilts, I don’t have a deadline for this, so whatever it takes is what I’ll do. It will be done when I’m happy with it.

Design Wall Feb. 20

I spent the day working on my Texas Braid quilt. As I mentioned before, I got the pattern from Bonnie Hunter’s Leaders & Enders book. I just love the look she gives scrappy quilts!

Of course, I changed it up some. I used 2 1/2 inch strips and adjusted the length to look similar to hers. I already had a boatload of 2 1/2 inch strips and not many 2 inchers. It made sense to go with what I already had. I’m using blues, both light and dark, and a cinnamon Kona Cotton. I have 4 braids done and I think I’ll need 8. Bonnie used 2-inch strips and her braids finished at 6 1/2 inches. My 2 1/2-inch strips made my braids finish around 8 1/2 inches (I think. I haven’t put them together yet.)

I wanted to use up my blue fabrics. I’ve always loved blue and I had a bunch. I’ve decided to use as many as possible in my scrappy quilts this year. Actually I started last year and am continuing the project this year. I haven’t seriously diminished the amount of blue, but I’m going to be working on it!

I started this quilt at a getaway in October, 2010, but put it away to finish more pressing matters. I think I can get it done before the end of the month if I stick to it. I now have a system that makes it pretty simple. I make 2 braids at a time. If you notice, they are mirror images. If I work on 2 at a time, I find I don’t get mixed up with the mirroring. The picture shows my cornerstone units on my machine bed ready to be attached to the growing braid. I press as I go. I tried finger-pressing, but I wasn’t happy with the results.

This is working for me, so I can see the end in sight. I even have a plan for borders. Bonnie didn’t use any, but I have a plan for a pieced border that I think will enhance the overall design.

Jeanne

Give and Take

Our local guild has a yearly Brown Bag Challenge. The committee puts out a sign up sheet about a month before the start. On the appointed day, participants bring in a brown bag filled with the required amount of fabric in the colors of our choice.

The committee pairs us up with another member and we each take home a brown bag of fabric and make a quilt.  Several months later, we bring back our finished objects and exchange them.

I’ve participated in almost all of the BBCs and enjoy the fun and the challenge of using fabrics chosen by another person.Our only requirement is the finished object has to be at least 36 inches on the shortest side.

At the top ot the post is what I came up with in the latest one, which finished at the February guild meeting last Monday.

It’s from a Bonnie Hunter pattern, “Hidden Spools,” which was fun and easy to make. I added a few fabrics to the mix, which is perfectly legal according to the BBC rules. It went to Betty.

I got to take home a quilt from Lorrie. She used my fabrics and added a few of her own (see a theme here?) Lorrie used a Schnibbles pattern called “Good Fortune” I love it! It’s gracing my dining room table and looks terrific!

This has been a very successful program at our guild. It’s been a great mixer, helping us get to know one another better.

Design wall Feb 13, 2012

I spent some time last week working on my version of Imperial Diamonds (from Fons & Porter's magazine). I'm calling mine Christmas Diamonds. I made these changes to the pattern:

1. I used charm packs for the larger diamonds instead of 4 1/2 inch squares.
2. I'm cutting the charms into fourths for the smaller squares for the little diamonds.

I've finished the four units like the one above, and have started the five units that go between the larger squares. There's a lot of cutting and sewing still to go before I get the center done. Then I'll decide about the borders. The pattern calls for the same light background and dark diamonds for the second pieced border. I'm thinking about changing it up and using light diamonds and darker background.

I like to get my quilt center together before I make final decisions about borders. Sometimes it makes a difference. These are what some of the little diamonds will look like:

 This has been a fun project so far!

Jeanne

Cold and snowy!

It's cold and snowy outside, so I'm staying inside today. We had a wonderful visit from my sister. She just left for the drive back to Indy and I know she'll be cautious on the roads. It's about 4 1/2 hours to her home, but she's heading for sunnier weather according to the forecasts.

As for us, we'll enjoy a rare day at home. DH probably will watch college basketball as long as there's a bouncing ball. I'm going to clean up some and then sew (I hope).

M and I picked out a pattern we want to sew at our getaway. I think I'll pull out some fabrics for it. Quilt Camp is the middle of March, so I'd like to get organized. The original is made with country-style fabrics. We're both thinking of using batiks to get a more contemporary look. I don't usually work with batiks, but I do have some so I'll see what I have in my stash. If that doesn't work, I'll probably choose something bright. (Imagine that.)

While she was here, we went to a nice yarn shop in Wooster, Calla Lilly Yarns (http://www.callalilyyarn.com/). She carries some wonderful yarns at reasonable prices. I bought yarn for a scarf I want to make. I need to finish my Liesl first, but that will be my next knitting project.

We also had a light lunch at Broken Rocks Cafe (http://www.brokenrockscafe.com/), next door to the yarn shop. It's one of our favorite eateries. Wonderful, wonderful food in a neat atmosphere. We had crab chowder that was really good. Their desserts are outstanding, but we passed on that.

Jeanne