Design Wall Monday 08/20/12

I accomplished my goal for this weekend and got the last of the Great Granny blocks done!  All nine are finished now.  You can see them all on my Flickr page here.  Most of the blocks are made of scraps from a couple of similar Jelly Rolls that I had.  I pulled the fabrics for two of the blocks out of my stash, and those two definitely look different from the rest, but I think they will be fine when they are mixed in.  But on the bonus side - everything for this quilt came from my stash!!

I'm excited to put them all together in a quilt.  I have no idea how I will quilt it.  I may just have it quilted for me at my lqs so I can have it actually finished and not in a pile while I try to decide what to do.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on today!

Design Wall Monday 08/13/12

Two more Great Granny blocks completed!  I actually did what I said I should do and made a few kits so I could sew them whenever I had a few spare moments.  I usually don't listen to myself when I have ideas like that, so score one for me!  This brings my block tally to seven.  Just two more and I can start putting them together.  I only have one more kit made.  I wanted to look at the first eight together to determine what colors the last block should have.  Several look very similar, so I want to make sure none of them stand out too much.

I lost the daylight yesterday, so I don't have a picture of the Design Wall with all of the blocks.  Hopefully soon!

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone else's Design Walls today!

Design Wall Monday 08/06/12

I guess I really like these Great Granny Square blocks!  I now have five blocks finished.  My goal now is to make nine and finish it as a small square quilt.  I would really like to make it bigger, but time is short, and I'd like to finish it this summer!  Maybe I'll try making little "kits" for each block.  Then there won't be so much time wasted with my terrible indecision when it comes to choosing colors.  I like that idea!  Then maybe I'll sew a bit each night after work and make some significant progress.  If you are looking for the block tutorial, you can find it on Lori Holt's blog here.  This picture of my "Design Wall" is not the greatest, but you can see better pictures of each block on my Flickr page here. 

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone else's Design Walls today!

Deign Wall Monday 07/30/12

I have the Great Granny Along blocks on my Design Wall again this week.  I was only able to make one more block (on the left).  I tend to agonize over color placement when I make blocks like this.  There is a huge pile of assorted Jelly Roll strips on my table, but I can't seem to decide on what I like.  It's all essentially scraps - leftover fabric from other projects - so I should just start putting them together, and if I don't like how they turn out, they go into the orphan block pile.  I need to be a lot more free when I do my piecing.  I'd certainly get a lot more finished!

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog and see what is on everyone's Design Walls today!

Design Wall Monday 07/23/12

I'm kind of all over the place with my projects this summer.  I see so many things online that I want to try and usually never do.  Now I seem to be trying everything and not finishing much!  Above is what is on my Design Wall today.  I've been seeing the granny square blocks on lots of blogs and made a mental note that I wanted to try it out.  Then I saw Lori @ Bee in my Bonnet and Jodi @ Pleasant Home (sorry - links not working today) were hosting a Great Granny Quilt Along with a tutorial and lots of inspiration.  I had a free afternoon, so I decided to make one.  I used leftover fabric from a Jelly Roll (except for the brown).  It went together perfectly. The edges are on the bias, so I'll have to be careful not to handle it too much.  I did starch it before I squared it up - I think I'll be fine.  This will be a great scrap buster if I keep up with them!

Be sure to check out Judy L's newly remodeled blog to see what is on everyone else's Design Walls today!

Dear Jane - F7

As I was looking in my Dear Jane box (to steal some fabric for another project), I found this block that I had sewn back in June, but never squared up.  A few minutes later I had a finished block! :)  It is made from a really interesting scrap of green fabric that my mom had given me.  I love the print - I wish I had a bigger piece!  The scrap was so small that I thought I might not have enough to make a DJ block, but as it turns out, I have about half of the piece left.  These blocks really do take the smallest bits of fabric!  And after all that, I didn't end up taking fabric from the DJ box.  I found another piece that worked for what I wanted to make.

Design Wall Monday 07/09/12

I finally did some sewing this weekend!  My friend Lori hosted a two-day sewing "retreat" at her beautiful home on Friday and Saturday.  She was a wonderful hostess all around and served us a fabulous lunch each day. I decided to make the Swoon block that I've seen all over the blogs.  I needed to make a mini quilt to protect the top of a short speaker we bought recently, so it wouldn't get scratched.  I scaled down the block and made it 12" finished (shown below).  I finished that one on Friday and liked it so much that I decided to make a larger version finishing at 20" on Saturday (shown above).  The bigger one is still on my Design Wall, as I am not sure if I want to add something to it - maybe a pieced border.  I only had fat quarters of the two prints, so I may not be able to do that as I don't have much fabric left over.  On Sunday, I quilted and bound the 12" block.  It is shown below in its place of honor on top of a speaker.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone's Design Walls today!

Happy 4th 2012!

Dear Jane - K2

It looks a little crooked in this picture, but I finished K2 for my Dear Jane project.  I decided to paper piece this one, although I probably could have pieced it the regular way as well.  Next I think I'll prep some applique blocks so I don't get too far behind on those.

Not much sewing going on these days.  This block was done in class on Monday night.  I've been on a little sewing hiatus lately.  I have some time off coming up next month, and I hope to get myself set up to finish some projects then.

Dear Jane - H5

This is another Dear Jane block that I finished up today.  Most of the piecing was arleady done earlier this week, but I needed to do some easing to get the side pieces to fit.  Even though foundation paper piecing is very precise, it can still be tricky - especially when you have to put pieced sections together.  After some fussing, I'm happy with how it turned out.  Those little triangles in the corners are very tiny!!  I now have 35 blocks made.  Only 190 to go...

Dear Jane - I9

I finished this Dear Jane block this past week, but I just squared it up today.  It's funny because it looks out of shape in the photo.  I think it's an illusion because the larger triangles are not 90 degree angles, but the sides are.  The other funny thing about this block is that there are little white triangles on two of the outer corners.  These could have easily been eliminated by extending the white fabric from the sides of the triangles out to the corners.  The ladies in class and I were surmising that in the original quilt, Jane Stickle was probably a little short of fabric on those two corners and added a bit to make it the proper size.  And now we are all adding tiny bit of fabric to make the blocks just like hers.  I was stumped as to whether to do it her way or my way.  At the risk of never finishing the block, I made the decision to add the fabric like she did.

This was all foundation pieced, which is my favorite technique.  It has a lot of tiny pieces, but as long as you keep plugging along, it gets finished and looks great.

Design Wall Monday 05/14/12

Tiny gifts!  This weekend I was sewing with my Mom and sister on these little gift blocks.  We each made different sized blocks.  At this stage, mine are a little under 4" unfinished.  They will have a border around them to make them 4" finished.  My sister made 5" blocks, and my Mom made 6" blocks.  We had fun going through piles of fabrics that we all brought and mixing and matching to make cute packages.  The finished pattern is one my sister and I are developing, and will have another block mixed in.  I'll wait to reveal the entire project once we are farther along.  But trust me - it will be very cute!  That's about all of the sewing I did all week.  We had a great time at our Mother's Day Sewing Day!

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone's Design Walls today!

Design Wall Monday 05/07/12

I seem to have fewer and fewer things on my Design Wall these days!  I really tried to get another Dear Jane block made, but the weekend ended up busier than I planned.  I have the center portion and part of the top portion made of one block.  I should be able to finish that up in class tonight.  The last block I had made is still sitting there.  I need to "file" that away with the rest of the completed blocks.  I did some work on my master color chart for this quilt.  I scanned it and put big black stars over the completed blocks.  I have over 30 made now and it's a great motivator to keep going.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on today!

Dear Jane - L7

Here's another quickie Dear Jane block that I finished last night. The scanner washed out a bit of the color, but it's fairly accurate. I think I'll pick another block to work on next. Hmm. Which will it be... Perhaps I should work on an intricate one so I don't make all of the easy ones first and leave the difficult ones to the end!

Dear Jane - B4

I love how this Dear Jane block turned out!  It was pretty fast to put together once I had made the kit for it.  I got this orange fabric at the PIQF quilt show last year and I think it's just lovely.  Yes, my sewing mojo is starting to come back!  I got another block done last night as well.  I'll post that one next.