Design Wall Monday 11-30-09

The top three rows are all sewn together. I decided to put cornerstones in the sashing, so I have small aqua fabric squares there. If you want to see what others are doing, check out Judy's blog.

Yesterday I did some dyeing. I haven't for a long time, but I had the need...a t-shirt for my husband, 3 yards of fabric (in a rainbow I hope) and 3- 1/2 yard pieces with the left over dye. I made a huge mess, and then put the fabrics in the cooler you see in the bottom left hand side of the picture. My house is quite cool, so I put it in with a heating pad on low. I remember reading that somewhere so I hope it stayed warm enough to batch properly.

I've had the dyes for a loooooong time, so I probably won't get deep or bright colors, but the dyes have been stored in a cool dry place, so maybe they have survived. I'll show the results after I wash the fabric later today.

Decorating (not quilting)

It just feels a lot like Christmas this year. I don't usually have the tree up this early, but somehow it just feels right. It's so much fun going through the ornaments and remembering where we got them or who gave them to us. We don't have a "themed" tree, but it is beautiful. We used to live in Pasadena, and there is a store there called Stats Floral. We bought the garland at the after Christmas sale before we moved to Colorado so before 1993, and it is real silver. It is amazingly reflective and gives the tree a beautiful shine. I love the lights and have wonderfully fond memories of lights shining through the pebbled glass in the bathroom window when I was little.

Disappearing 9-Patch layout

Here is the layout I'm going to use. I will use white sashing, but I don't know if I'm going to use cornerstones. I have red and aqua both. If I had a red-aqua print I would probably use it. I'll have to do some shopping!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Design Wall Monday 11-23-09

I've sewn together 4 of the blocks in the first row. I think I'm going to have a narrow sashing between blocks, maybe 1 inch. It's interesting to see the variety of quarter inch seams in the blocks. Some of them are as small as 1/8" in places, but almost none of them are more than 1/4". I'm not going to work at matching seams within the blocks, but I am going to try to match the edges, so some easing will have to take place. It's also interesting to see that some other quilters press their seams open, as I do.

If you want to see what others are doing, check out Judy's post, and you might think about joining in, it does provide a reason to get something done so you can post something new.

Snowman Angel

Here is my most recent project. I had some fun with it. We're having a "Bowling Ball" at work for our Christmas get together...at a bowling alley. So, inside this fluffy guy is a bowling pin. It's a contest so we'll see what the other folks have to offer. I had fun working on it.

Buddy's Gone

He had lung cancer--didn't know, so we said goodbye to him today. He was a great cat, and we'll miss him.

What's on My Design Wall 11-16

I didn't realize it's been a week since I last posted. The quilt above is from a swap I entered. Red and aqua. There were more blocks with red centers than aqua, so the bottom left corner isn't quite right. I still have some fabric left over from the blocks I did, so I might make a couple more to fit in the top. I don't know if I'm going to leave it this way, or maybe add some white sashing between the larger blocks. This is just the first layout that came out.

I also have this one up (well, my wall is small, so it was actually on top of the disappearing 9-patch). I've finished the top, now I need to figure out how I am going to quilt it, and who it is going to go to. It was fun to do, and not nearly as difficult as I imagined it would be.

What's on My Design Wall 11-9

Well, here is the top, half the columns are sewn together, the other half are still waiting. I am going to put a 1/8" or so of orange piping as the first "border". Then a dark blue I think. I don't have that yet. I've been playing in Paint, and I might pick a dark green instead of blue.

Check out what other people have on their design walls on Judy's blog.

One Block Wonder-Help

Does this look designed, or just messy? Looking at it on the wall I think it looks a bit boring, looking at it in a picture it looks kind of messy, what do you think? Do I need to do some more stuff to it? I have the first column on the left sewn together, so those first blocks over there probably aren't going to move, but I could move some others around.

Thank you all for you comments. I'm going to leave it as is. I just needed a little positive input to trust that it didn't look like a bunch of blocks thrown on the wall. Lindi suggested I put in some of the complement, I may do that with beads or something like that. I tried it with some fabric, and it jumped out at me too much. Perhaps I can find some fabric for the border that has bits of a burnt orange in it, then add some small dashes in the quilt. This one might need some more work when it is all together, but I don't want to over-think it.

What's on My Design Wall 11-2

Here is what I have on my design wall. I have been wanting to make one of these for a while, but have been trying to get my tops quilted. I've finished a number of them, and wanted to start something new, so I've started this. I like it so far, and it's not very hard. I was expecting it to be a big production, and it's not, yay!

What a goof I am. I forgot to label the second picture, that is the fabric I cut the blocks from. I cut 3 3/4" strips, then cut the 60 degree triangles from the strip. Because I had just watched a video on line about cutting triangles for hexagons, I moved the template up, so the tip of the triangle template hangs over the top of the strip by 1/4". This leaves the top flat, so it's much easier to match the sides. I sew from the wide edge up to the tip for each half hexagon, and it goes very quickly. I also have a wallpaper seam roller I use to 'press' open the seams. I've attached a link so you can see what I mean. I always press my seams open, and because I'm using this tool, I don't have to use the iron, which saves time too.