Farmer's Wife background strip corners are all done

I've got all the background corner triangle pieces made up.  It has really come together.  I have really been dragging my feet with this one.  Finding all the excuses in the book not to work on it.  By this point it was the last week of April and I needed it done.....in April.

I've also got all the sashing cut out and I'm ready to put the whole thing together.  It may not be April anymore, but I am not giving up on this one.  It's starting to grow on me.  I am determined to get this done.  I even figured out what I am going to do for the quilting.  So I need to finish it! 

All blocks done for French Braid star

I got all my blocks done for the French Braid Star quilt.  Once I got into the rhythm of constructing the block, it went well.  I was finished in no time at all.  I've decided what I am going to do for the borders, but will have to order some more grey background fabric to do it.

I like the way it is turning out.  This quilt is going to be a giveaway to one of my nieces, at some point or another.  I just haven't nailed down which one would like a more modern looking quilt.

Earlier today I went to Michael's to pick up my framed cross-stitch.  It turned out beautiful.  I like how the simple frame brings out some of the colour in the cross-stitch.

This week my am is to finish making the top from the April's UFO challenge.  I have only the peek-a-boo border and the last border to put on, to call it complete.  I already have the backing and the quilting design picked out, so once I get some time, I can also quilt it up.  I am looking forward to it.

I sit here today evaluating my list of quilts to do.  I have quite a few left to do. I am now back up to thirty-five.  I was doing well for a bit, but so far this year I have already added another eight quilts to the list.  On paper it does not look too good, as I only have five completed.  However, I have made a lot of progress on a few of the quilts.

I can thank the American Patchwork & Quilting UFO Challenge for my progress.  Though I did get distracted with a bunch of starts, I did make good progress on quilts from the list, that otherwise would not even have been looked at.

Let's see what I can do to make some of these quilts move to the completed status.

French Braid Star quilt

Last weekend my Guild had a workshop.  We had a guess speaker in a few meetings back.  She belongs to a group that makes scrappy quilts.  As there was an interest at the guild, to make a scrappy quilt, to use up stash, the speaker agreed to run a workshop for any of the quilts that she had.  

In the end there was more interest in the French Braid Star quilt.  There were many options available, but I was glad to know that this one won out.  We had a great time.  A lot of like minded people getting together to be creative.  The comradery was a blast.  Everyone had a good time.

For me, I raided my solids stash.  I've truly had these fat quarters in my stash for at least eight years, but I believe closer to ten years would be more accurate.  A quilt shop in my area used to send out four fat quarters to a theme of the month.  I did this for almost two year, so you can imagine the amount of solids I had amassed.  For this quilt I used 55 different colours (two strips each).  I didn't use any of my blacks, greys, browns or any really light colours.  The only thing I needed to buy was three meters of the Iron Grey background fabric.

What do you think?  I am liking it!  It has a modern look to it. Very different than my usual choices.  We were to have all the cutting done prior to the workshop.  I had all my colours set up in a rainbow fan.  I wanted this quilt to be random, so I picked the first colour, sewed it on to the first base square and repeated the process for the next colour and so on until I had a strip on each thirty-six base squares.  Wherever I left off, I started back on the first base square and added the next strip.

By the time the workshop was over, I had five strips, out of the six, attached to the base square.  Everyone else though were making a few blocks at a time.  So it appeared that they were so much further than I was.  I finished the four blocks above after the workshop, at my mom's place.

Here I have a picture of one of the ladies' squares.  She chose to use everything from her stash too.  She had the solid brown fabric yardage and pulled from her beiges and turquoise blue stash.  This is going to look so good.  I mature and elegant looking quilt.

There was another lady that pulled her background fabrics from her stash, and chose coordinating colours.  She also decided to do a slightly different variation of the French Braid Star quilt.  Her blocks include a cornerstone between rows of strips and in her case she also coordinated the placement of each strip, so that the blocks are all the same.  She wanted a more organized look.  It looks striking!

There were many others.  Each one was completely different from the next.  The variety was amazing and each one looked as striking as the other.  The examples above were all using a theme, but some of the others were completely scrappy.  A couple of the ladies had to leave early, so I didn't get a sample of the truly scrappy blocks, but they looked great.

I hope everyone brings them in when they are done.  I really want to see the finished quilt!

More progress on the Farmer's Wife quilt

The last time I wrote about this quilt was on the 16th.  We are now five days later and I am seeing some progress.  At that time I basically only had the one row completed.  Since, I've made up a bunch of the scrappy strips units that make up the corners of the main blocks.  Kind of creating a frame around each one.

Slowly but surely, the white of the design wall is disappearing.  I counted them last night while I sat there taking stock of my progress and found out that I only need to make 32 more scrappy squares.  Each scrappy square starts with a 5 1/2" square foundation that once complete, gets cut down the middle horizontally through the middle strip.

I am really getting there!  I feel there is a real chance of me having this done for the end of the month, or at least the top done.  This quilt is part of the American Patchwork & Quilting UFO challenge.  If I get this top done, that would be a 50% success rate.  If I were talking to my children about their school marks, that would not be good at all, but since this is only quilting, I am giving myself a break. Lol.  Even the other 50% saw some progress, so I am happy.

Today I am off to a quilt workshop with folks from my Guild.  It's an all day thing.  Looking forward to it.  Not like I need to make yet another quilt, but hey........  A least this one looks easy and I am using up my stash.  I'll post about it later.

Finished quilting some of the NICU quilts

These are the first two NICU quilts.  I am using these quilts to practice different designs.  I am trying to improve my rhythm, flow and coordination.

For this first quilt, I quilted continuous curves in the light squares.  When I first started quilting, I used to use rulers to do this design.  They always turn out perfect, however "perfect" is not required and it takes more time to do.  I am getting better at doing them freehand.  I'd go so far as saying that they are "good enough" for a real quilt.  The only tricky part is remembering that I am doing a continuous curve design and not the Terry twist design......lol.  I love the Terry twist design and the movement it creates.

For the dark squares, I did a new to me design.  It's called a curly bracket.  You'd find it on your keyboard above the square bracket.  It's the one with a curve that goes out into a point, and back again.  

This one is a bit tricky to get correct consistently.  So long as I am concentrating on the motion, I do good.  I recite to myself curl out/dip in/point out/dip in/curl back in, all in a small 2" space.  If I loose concentration, they start to look like just a point outward.  I'll be honest, there were more than a few that looked more like outward points.......lol.  Overall, I really like this new design for a grid.  I will have to practice this one more, so that it becomes second nature to me.

Lastly, on the border I tried a freehand vine.  I marked my quilt with a 2" grid stencil and chalk pounce pad to section off the border.  The middle line was my guide for the stem of the vine and the 2" long squares on either side, were to make my leaves consistent within the space.  The leaves are not all the same size or shape, but that is ok.  

While making the leaves, I was trying out different movements.  I found that I work better if I start the first leaf by doing the over motion, to curve up the top of the leaf, and finish it coming down the bottom of it.  I tried up/down, down/up, right/left, left/right.  Everyone has there own method which creates their own rhythm.  By the end, I think I found what works best for me.  I am going to work on this simple leaf design again and next time I will only use the one method to practice consistency. 

Progress, progress, progress.  All is good.

For this quilt of different coloured squares, I had a pantograph design I wanted to do.  It is a simple design that came with the Quilt Path system called knobs.  I overlapped the design and changed the size of it, compared to the first one I did.  It's ok, but I do prefer the skinner/longer version of my first attempt at this design.  So, I did learn something on this one too.

I've enjoyed quilting and practicing on these small quilts.  Wait until you see the next two.

A couple of NICU quilts

Last month at the Guild meeting, I picked up a full freezer bag of blue miscellaneous blocks and pieces of 2 1/2" squares for $5.00.  The large size freezer bag was really packed in.  I sorted out the bag with different piles of blocks and took stock of what I had.

One pile contained four blocks with nine squares in the centre using light blues, surrounded by dark blue squares, making each square 10" finished.  I put them together in a four patch layout and added a border to make a NICU quilt.  These sizes are great for practicing.  In this case the size of the blocks are also great for any number of grid patterns/designs.  It's a simple quilt, but doesn't look too bad.

  

In another pile I had strips of three across squares sewn together.  This pile also had different colours and single stirps of squares too.  I had enough to make another NICU quilt.  I guess I am going to be practicing different grid patterns/designs.  I don't mind, because I like the neatness of grid designs.

I still have a large pile of blocks and squares.  I will have to get busy.  I wonder just how many quilts I will get out of this bag?  I enjoy playing with other people's scraps and helping them finish up their UFOs. 

It's funny how at is, as I do not have a lack of my own UFOs, but I get more excited working on other people's UFOs instead....lol.

Block 4 for the 3 Way BOM Adventure

Today I had to go into the office to work and meetings, so when I got home I figured I had to take care of the water logged snow/ice in the driveway from the weekend and Monday's dump.  Wow, was that snow ever heavy.  I certainly got my workout tonight and I got two days worth of steps in too.

When I came in I was exhausted and needed to sit for a bit to catch my breath before starting dinner.  So, I sat down at my machine and pieces the blocks for the 3 Way BOM Adventure.  This is April's block, which is block number 4.  This first block here is my traditional block version. 

There is the freehand block.  This chain really stands out against the white with grey polka-dots.

Lastly, we have the modern block.  These dogs look kind of funky.  This quilt will be a playful looking quilt.  I also like the solids mixed in with a patterned fabric.

I am liking these blocks, all of them, even the other blocks I've made so far.  I can't wait to put them all together.  By the end of the year I will have three complete quilts, all the same but different.  Wait until you see all the quilting designs Tracey has planned for these blocks.  Each quilt will be quilted differently and the designs are so varied, they are as different as the above blocks are to each other.

I'm getting excited!  I have to start practicing the quilting designs on scraps before the end of the year.  I want the quilts to look half decent and some of the quilting designs are outside of my comfort zone, but that is why I am doing this.  I want to continue to learn and progress to the next level of quilting.

Thank you Tracey.