Joy in the Mailbox

Woot!  I got my first two packages for the Snowball Swap today!  From Texas and North Carolina!  Thanks, team!

Something New

I've joined up with eleven other women to participate in a quilting bee in the new year.  You can see the button over in the sidebar - it links to our Flickr group, which is empty as of now. So is our blog, but watch this space, because I'm sure we'll be creating some spectacular quilts. This bee was inspired by the very interesting blog and quiltalong led by Jennifer and Crystal over at Modified Tradition.  In an online bee, every participant has a particular month in which they send out fabric and instructions to the other members of the bee, who in turn each create one or two blocks for that month's member.  Members in our bee are mainly from the U.S., but there are three "foreigners" - that would be me and Leanne from Canada, and Sandra, a lovely lady from the UK.  I've listed the members who have introduced themselves to the group over on the sidebar, as well.

My month isn't until March, but I've been thinking about the pattern that I'd like to choose for my blocks.  I've always really liked Lady of the Lake, and I think there's a lot of scope in this pattern for making it look new by setting it on point and using modern fabric.  I must be a masochist for half-square triangles, because I also really like the Sawtooth block.  The use of setting blocks, like in this photo, means you can make a good sized quilt from relatively few pieced blocks; this is good news for a bee, where you will get 22 blocks at most, or maybe only 11, depending on the rules of the bee.  Another way to manage this is to choose a pattern like the Ohio Star in a particular largish size for the bee blocks, then make the same block in one-quarter size to add to the size of the quilt.  This has the added advantage of showcasing the bee blocks due to their relative size, and the difference in block sizes make it look new and modern, even though the block itself is traditional.  These are my preliminary musings, and I'm looking forward to clearing my WIP pile so that I can think about this new project with a guiltless heart!  thank goodness, it doesn't start until 2010!

And one more thing - perhaps the most important:

Lest we forget.

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!

Decisions, decisions

I'm so excited to show you my solution to the design wall problem.  It's a bit McGyvered, but it's effective. I bought a flannel-backed, vinyl tablecloth at the grocery store and pinned it to my living room curtains.  The folds in the vinyl are pretty pronounced, but it lays flat enough to do the job.  Please ignore the SpongeBob fleece blanket on the chair to the right.  I had originally planned to use that, since fleece holds blocks like a magnet, but I knew I couldn't overcome the distraction of those googly eyes.  My daughter took that blanket to camp when she was nine, and we haven't managed to get rid of it yet.

I played around with some of the layouts that are possible with these blocks.  Again, I have about twice as many blocks as are shown here.


Here is a closer view of the one in the picture showing the design wall, #1 - it's the traditional, radiating diamonds layout.


In #2, the radiating diamonds are bounded on the sides by small diamonds.  More of the radiating diamonds would be complete in the full-sized quilt, and I think that may make it look less busy than it does right now.  Busy in a bad way.


Here's #3, where there is one large diamond, surrounded by small diamonds.  I think it looks less busy than the one above.  I like the layout when the quilt is this size, but I think it might look off kilter when it's full-sized.  When all the blocks are in, I suppose I could add another radiating diamond to keep the pattern balanced.


This is #4, the final option: small diamonds in an all-over pattern.  I like this one, too.  Decisions, decisions.  Which one do you like?

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.

Tools

I started cutting my fabric for the snowball challenge last night.  Honestly, over the last week it feels like I have been chained to the cutting mat! I was determined to make one red snowball last night.  It's mainly strip piecing and half square triangles.  I thought I'd show you a couple of tools that I use in my quilting.

Here's a slotted mat from June Tailor that I use for cutting strips.  You fold the fabric selvage to selvage, then twice more after that, so that you are cutting through eight layers of fabric.  Your cutter needs to be sharp for this!  There's a line to lay against the fold at the bottom, and a zero mark to slice off the end and make a clean beginning.  The slots are marked off in quarter-inch segments, so it's useful for most sizes of strips.  After you cut the strips, you can turn them sideways and cut squares or rectangles, as well.  If you are careful about the original folding, you can cut nice strips with no Ms or Ws at the folds.

These are Thangles; they are paper guides used for making half-square triangles.  Layer the right sides of fabric together, pin carefully; sew along the dotted lines and cut along the solid lines.  Press open, peel off the paper, trim to size.  The drawback to these is that it is terribly tedious to pick the paper off, but to be fair, the paper used for these is one of the easier quilting papers to remove.  At least, in my experience.  Thangles (and other brands that use the same approach) stabilize the HSTs when pressing open along the bias, and produce dead accurate measurements.

Here is my first snowball.  It's fairly small, 6" inches.  This quilt is definitely going to be the most traditional-looking piece I've made since I've rejoined the quilting world.  I think it's going to be a great winter quilt.  I've already bought a wool batt for it (directions say it can be machine washed, laid flat to dry), and I plan to use a nice flannel for the back.  It's not going to win any prizes for modern design, but it's going to feel like the quilt equivalent to mac and cheese!  Mmmm.... comfort food quilting!

For all you Snowball Challengers in my swap group, watch your mailbox.  I finally sent these off, with a little surprise inside!

Daylight Savings Time

Today is November 1.  The clocks went back last night, so we had an extra hour's sleep.  I so needed it; after admitting to myself that I had a full blown sinus cold, I took a night-time sinus tab and conked right out, next door to unconscious. I barely managed to stay awake long enough to hand out candy to the local spooks and ghouls!

I feel like I've spent a lot of time at the sewing machine and cutting mat, but I have very little to show for myself.  Here's my best accomplishment: the blocks for my values quilt.  They trued up to be 4.5" blocks.  I don't know how I'm going to decide on a layout, not to mention actually choosing which blocks go where. I have pondered every inch of my house while trying to locate a space for a potential design wall, but I haven't come up with one yet.  My best option so far: pinning a piece of fleece or flannel to the shower curtain, but I can't get very far away from it to eyeball the blocks from a distance.  I'm still seeking other possibilities.  I feel like this is a quilt that needs a design wall; the dining room table won't do this time.

I also bought the light yardage for the Red and White Snowball Challenge swap.  This doesn't make for a very exciting photo, does it?  I'm happy to report that I've cut the fabrics needed for the swap.  I'm sending them to seven women all over the U.S., including Alaska!

I was on the fence for a long time about whether to actually make my snowball red and white or another colour.  I was leaning towards golds.  But when I was at the LQS picking up the lights, I saw some gorgeous red flannels on display.  Suddenly I had a craving for a red and white quilt, backed with some cozy red flannel and batted with wool.  I grabbed some red fats, shown below.  I planned to cut them this weekend, but it didn't happen.

And here is my fabric for Cheryl's Rail Fence quiltalong.  Another thing I was supposed to cut this weekend.  Sigh.  Or should that be "sinus".  I always feel like I've lost 20 points off my IQ when I have a sinus cold.