Scraptastic!

Snowballs, originally uploaded by Shadrach Meshach & Abednego.

This Friday I'm showing off about 40% of the snowballs for the Red and White Snowball challenge.
Here's a closer look.

The pattern has them set just like I'm showing here, but I'm wondering what they would look like on point. I'd have to buy extra red for the setting triangles, but it might look awfully nice. Hmmm..... *strokes chin*.  What do you think?

Joy in the New Year

You can see down there on the right the Joy in the New Year button.  It links to Jacquie's blog, where she has posted a challenge to work through one's WIPs before 2010 begins.  I said I had seven.  But I think I need to make a public posting on my own blog to keep me honest.  Here they are:



Jacob's Ladder (photo above, needs borders attached, etc.)
My mother's Christmas quilt (quilting right now)
Red and White Snowball Challenge quilt* (currently in the middle of cutting and piecing)
Values quilt (all blocks complete, need joining, etc.)
Cheryl's modified Rail Fence (still need to cut, arrgh and alas)
Prairie Claw (cutting and piecing the blocks, about 20% complete)
Southern Skies (cutting and piecing the blocks, about 25% complete)
Modify Tradition Sampler (just a gleam in my eye at the moment, but will be fixing that shortly)

*This isn't "due" until January 2010, so technically it shouldn't count in the 2009 WIPs.  That's why there are actually eight projects on that list.  Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

At least one of these is going out to the long-armer.  I'll count it as "finished" once it leaves my house.  Can she do it, folks?  Stay tuned and find out!

Slogging Along

VAlues blocks, originally uploaded by Shadrach Meshach & Abednego.

Boo hoo - it's Friday and I have nothing to share over at Amy's Sew-n-Tell sisterhood. But rather than not post at all, I couldn't resist laying out some of my blocks for the Values quilt, because they are all trimmed and ready to be pieced, and because the colours are so pretty. These are just a few of the blocks - this quilt is going to be bigger than I realized - not massive, but fairly substantially sized.  Katie, the brainchild behind this quiltalong, calls hers "Mine, All Mine", and I can completely relate to that, since I have all kinds of scraps in here from quilts that have been gifted.  It's a nice reminder of all that work that I did.  This was completely unstudied - whatever blocks came to hand.  I think I can do a better job of matching blocks to emphasize the dark/light contrast.  And this probably will not be the layout that I go with (but who knows). However, I just wanted to post something to show that I'm still slogging along!  Fingers crossed, I'll have something more substantial to show next week.

Update:  Seriously, what the heck?  Today before noon, three of the blogs on my feed reader make reference to French General's Rouenneries line.  I have been steadfastly resisting succumbing to this drop-dead gorgeous line of fabrics, but clearly, this is an omen, a message to me: "Get thee to the online fabric store."  Who am I to argue with a message from the beyond?

Update re: update:  I ordered one layer cake and two charm packs of Rouenneries from Hancocks of Paducah, and then saw that they had Erin McMorris' Wildwood line on sale for $5 a yard.  Here in Canada we pay at least double that.  After a brief struggle with my conscience, I convinced myself that I already do plenty to keep my LQS in business.  Woe is my credit card.

Happy Birthday to Me

It's my birthday, and for my present to myself, I am allowing myself to run headlong into three new projects. The first one is Katie's Values Quiltalong, represented by her photo below, although this is not the one she is working up for this project. I am behind on this, as I just began cutting my fabric last night.  I am finding fabric scraps from every quilt I ever made, going back to 1992!  Not all of them will make it into the quilt, I have no doubt; but it is nice to handle them again, and just cutting them into tidy 5" squares makes it more likely that I will use them at some time.  I am really inspired by the myriad fascinating ways these half-square triangles can be laid out to evoke the dark and light qualities.  To get a sense of the variety, have a look at the photos in the Flickr group dedicated to this quiltalong.


Values Quilt Tutorial, originally uploaded by Willy-Nilly.

The second project is Allyson and Nicole's Snowball Challenge Swap.  We're going to make this quilt.  The original is red and white scrappy, and Allyson is organizing a white fabric swap.  I'm not yet behind on this one, since I think she is still enrolling participants.  I haven't yet committed to the idea of red and white (kind of liking the idea of golds and whites), although as the days close in and the weather gets colder, I'm thinking that a wool batting and flannel back to a cozy red and white quilt couldn't possibly be beat.

Finally, I love the variation on Rail Fence that Cheryl whipped up, and couldn't resist the temptation to join her in making one.  I love the low contrast of her taupe-y greys in her Gratitude quilt shown below.  I'm only slightly behind the curve this week, since I'm supposed to have selected my fabrics already, but with luck will be caught up by the weekend.

So, I've just doubled my WIP pile, but dang it, it's my birthday and I'm entitled!

A Sunday at Home

What is the name of the law that says whenever you need a plumber in a hurry it will be on a Sunday or a holiday?  *Sigh*

To distract myself from the more pressing and unpleasant issue above, I thought I'd post a photo of what I'm working on now.  This is a quilt that is continuing on from the Square in a Square workshop I attended at the end of September.  We made a couple of blocks in the workshop, and I liked them enough to complete the quilt.

It's a bit more traditional than the other quilts I've made this year.  I do like the traditional blocks as well as the modern quilts.  Although, generally, I don't like so much the fabric prints that go along with those traditional blocks; I seem to have made an exception in this case.  I like the batik used for the block centres and the flying geese; the colour in that is mainly blue, red and purple, but it is so wild that each individual square looks quite different from its neighbour.  I think the batik will keep the quilt from feeling too Little House on the Prairie.  Fingers crossed!

I'm a bit stalled on it at the moment, though.  Even though I thought I massively overbought, due to the poor description of what was required on the materials list from hell, it turns out that I need more background fabric.  Benefits to Square in a Square method for flying geese: the method of constructing the square they are embedded in allows perfect squaring, even though the geese themselves can be untrue.  Drawbacks: a fair amount of fabric wastage (this is true for the S-in-a-S method generally, I find), bloody tedium!

I was reading on someone's blog the other day about how each stage of a quilt is different and reminds them of raising children.  The fabric is lovable and cuddly and can do no wrong, just like babies, and every stage from there brings its own challenges and joys, just like toddlers and teenagers.  (I've forgotten whose blog this was, my apologies, so if it's yours, drop me a comment and I'll make the appropriate link.)  I couldn't agree more.  I spend a fair amount of time thinking about what kind of quilt I'm going to make, and I have big plans and high hopes before I can commit to using the cutter on my fabric.  Almost immediately afterwards, I start to have buyer's remorse, and I look cross-eyed at the blocks as they come together, second-guessing myself like crazy.  As more blocks come together, I start to thaw, and once the top is assembled and I start quilting, I'm in love again.  What about you - do you love your projects the same way at every stage?